# U.S. getting closer to Bin Laden capture
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 4, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139 "2004-09-04T20:06:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/1 "2004-09-04T20:06:38Z")
[Link.](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,131477,00.html)
**Just** in time for October. What a surprise! :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/2 "2004-09-04T20:18:23Z")
Would you prefer that he wasn’t caught? Does your rancor towards Bush so cloud your opinions that you would prefer Bin Laden to get away because of the proximity to the election?
That’s just pathetic.
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### Author:  [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/3 "2004-09-04T20:28:08Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#):
>
> Would you prefer that he wasn’t caught? Does your rancor towards Bush so cloud your opinions that you would prefer Bin Laden to get away because of the proximity to the election?
>
> That’s just pathetic.
Myself, I would have preferred that he was caught in Tora Bora. I think that the fact that nobody is held accountable for failing to do so then is pathetic.
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### Author:  [@PussyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PussyCow)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/4 "2004-09-04T20:29:36Z")
Of course we want him caught. However, the conspiracy theory prediction and this news is quite a coincidence.
You know, a few years ago I thought just about all government conspiracy theories were ridiculous. But now with the Bush administration in office I have found I feel I wouldn’t put anything past them. I find it very sad I don’t trust my president.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/5 "2004-09-04T20:37:25Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#):
>
> Would you prefer that he wasn’t caught? Does your rancor towards Bush so cloud your opinions that you would prefer Bin Laden to get away because of the proximity to the election?
>
> That’s just pathetic.
**Doors** , I’m a Conservative, and I used to be a Republican. But what the current Administration is doing to my party upsets me more than a little bit. I have no rancor towards Bush. I dislike intensely the people he has as advisors, and the elements he has allied himself with. Subtle, they ain’t.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/6 "2004-09-04T20:40:17Z")
Likely we’ll soon here more of this:
> [@Maxwell Smart](#):
>
> Missed him by **that** much! :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/7 "2004-09-04T21:48:41Z")
Bah. Find me a cite that’s not from Republican Central Media Command, excuse me I mean FOX News, and maybe I’ll believe capture is imminent.
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### Author:  [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/8 "2004-09-04T22:03:30Z")
> [@Otto](#):
>
> Bah. Find me a cite that’s not from Republican Central Media Command, excuse me I mean FOX News, and maybe I’ll believe capture is imminent.
Well, even though Faux News has the story, the story is actually by the Associated Press (author: Matthew Pennington. Here is another cite, if you like:
[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2004/09/04/616069-ap.html](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2004/09/04/616069-ap.html)
LilShieste
**_Note_:** \* I will certainly not try to argue that Fox News is not afilliated with Republican Central Media Command.\* 😛
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/9 "2004-09-04T22:03:38Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> **Doors** , I’m a Conservative, and I used to be a Republican. But what the current Administration is doing to my party upsets me more than a little bit. I have no rancor towards Bush. I dislike intensely the people he has as advisors, and the elements he has allied himself with. Subtle, they ain’t.
Wow. I think **silenus** and I are soul brothers. Socially, I agree with Bush on almost every issue. But I can’t stand the way he’s whored himself out to Big Business. And I’ve never believed his reasons for invading Iraq.
Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of stories about how they think Bin Laden is more of a figurehead than a real commander. It seems to me like they’re trying to downplay his importance in case they don’t capture him.
A large part of me want OBL to be captured the day _after_ the election.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/10 "2004-09-04T22:09:36Z")
> [@George W. Bush](#):
>
> “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.”
>
> - G.W. Bush, 9/13/01
>
> “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.”
>
> - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
>
> “I am truly not that concerned about him.”
>
> - G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden’s whereabouts,
> 3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)
Yet Kerry’s the flip-flopper.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/11 "2004-09-04T22:17:20Z")
FYI, Elvis, it’s been pretty much established that the second quote in your post is not accurate.
In any case, this stinks to high heaven. If you ask me, it seems more likely that there’s no progress at all, and this announcement is pure campaign propaganda.
Either that, or he’s already in custody, and they’re setting the stage for the big announcement, just in time for election day.
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### Author:  [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/12 "2004-09-04T22:22:22Z")
If we knew where he was, we would have caught him.
We’re likely to catch him eventually, but untill we actually have him in hand, then talking about how eminent his capture is is simply rhetorical bullshit.
It’s a non-issue.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/13 "2004-09-04T22:25:35Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> FYI, Elvis, it’s been pretty much established that the second quote in your post is not accurate.
Really? But the third one, from the same day and expressing the same sentiment, is legit?
> [@](#):
>
> In any case, this stinks to high heaven. If you ask me, it seems more likely that there’s no progress at all, and this announcement is pure campaign propaganda.
There you have it. Bush has to appear to be a strong leader in the war on terrorism etc., but his indifference toward catching Osama (as demonstrated by his pulling troops from Afghanistan) is going to bite him if he can’t hide it in a smokescreen.
> [@](#):
>
> Either that, or he’s already in custody, and they’re setting the stage for the big announcement, just in time for election day.
Naw, thet would be cutting it too close - he needs a big boost _now_. Plus, no secret that big could be kept this long. People do talk.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/14 "2004-09-04T22:55:29Z")
The article seems remarkably content-free. I don’t see anything to persuade me that OBL isn’t dead.
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/15 "2004-09-05T01:00:33Z")
Wolf? :eek: Where?
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/16 "2004-09-05T01:59:48Z")
> [@Casey1505](#):
>
> Wolf? :eek: Where?
There wolf.
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### Author:  [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/17 "2004-09-05T02:00:05Z")
The capture of OBL is about as meaningful as the capture of the kingpin in a South American drug cartel. Ten men are ready to step forward the moment he falls. All his capture (and our celebration) would mean is that America can’t think strategically and proves OBL to be a grandmaster chessplayer. In all likelihood, OBL’s capture (or death) will be a powerful recruitment tool for international terrorism. Heads or tails, we lose.
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### Author:  [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/18 "2004-09-05T02:52:08Z")
Zawahiri, Zarqawi, Osama and Omar are all still free. If anyone is duped into voting for that incompetent ass in the White House on the basis of any of these guys being caught in the next two months, it’ll only prove that PT Barnum was wrong: he wasn’t cynical enough.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/19 "2004-09-05T03:34:43Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#):
>
> The capture of OBL is about as meaningful as the capture of the kingpin in a South American drug cartel. Ten men are ready to step forward the moment he falls. All his capture (and our celebration) would mean is that America can’t think strategically and proves OBL to be a grandmaster chessplayer. In all likelihood, OBL’s capture (or death) will be a powerful recruitment tool for international terrorism. Heads or tails, we lose.
That’s an argument against fighting al-Qaida at all.
One, I might add, most intelligent people would reject as an option.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/20 "2004-09-05T04:06:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> If we knew where he was, we would have caught him.
And maybe we did a few months ago when the rumor was flying around. Who was Prisoner XXX anyway? Did we ever find out?
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