# U.S. getting closer to Bin Laden capture **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/21 "2004-09-05T04:40:59Z")
Osama’s whereabout’s known? Maybe in custody already hmm[that sounds familiar](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4789753&highlight=pakistan#post4789753) whudda thunk it? GWB would pull some shit like this at the final bell. Of course it’s just a conspiracy theory. We all know junior is better than that. :rolleyees: How meaningful his capture is to the war on terror versus getting Bush back in office. This would guarantee he get’s re-elected. No doubt about it. Quite meaningful in that event. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/22 "2004-09-05T05:10:14Z")
Haven’t there been numerous stories of how we’re ‘getting closer’ to capturing him?? Haven’t we been seeing these stories for a couple of years?? Or have I been hallucinating again? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/23 "2004-09-05T05:18:24Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Haven’t there been numerous stories of how we’re ‘getting closer’ to capturing him?? Haven’t we been seeing these stories for a couple of years?? > > Or have I been hallucinating again? Shhhhh… I’m hunting Bin Wadens ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/24 "2004-09-05T06:47:47Z")
> [@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. Oh man, it’s my lucky day that this is the pit! That way, I can point out what a nasty dickwad you are for putting unspoken words and conclusions in someone else’s mouth and then calling them pathetic! I would guess that the complaint of any sane person to the idea that there wa sudden pressure to capture Osama is the implication that it is now being put on for political reasons RATHER than those of national security, thus implying that no such emphasis was put on it beforehand. Even if they get Osama now, they’ve given him three extra years to spread his bile and help others set up franchises that can function even after he’s gone. Three extra years to taunt the US and show our weaknesses, how easy it is to distract and elude us. Three extra years in which his importance did, indeed disappate. We needed to catch him and show him to be just a weak little man ASAP. Instead, he’s now mythic and his movement has grown far beyond the need for his freedom. You might remember a little thing called the Iraq war, where we pulled attention, resources, and so on away from the search for Bin Laden and into a war that turned out not to be all that pressing or that successful in any of the shifting aims given to it. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/25 "2004-09-05T06:51:14Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Shhhhh… I’m hunting Bin Wadens Eh…chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp…let us know when you find one, eh, Doc? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/26 "2004-09-05T06:58:18Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Really? But the third one, from the same day and expressing the same sentiment, is legit? > > 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. > > 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. This makes no sense to me. YOu mean to say that there’s NO government secret, EVER, that hasn’t been found out? We know everything? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/27 "2004-09-05T07:18:04Z")
> [@threemae](#): > > If we knew where he was, we would have caught him. And if we had sent 150,000 troops into Afghanistan – instead of the 12,000 we _did_ send – we would have caught him _a lot sooner._ And as a bonus, those troops would probably be home now, instead of getting their asses shot at in Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/28 "2004-09-05T07:33:52Z")
**People do talk** That’s no shit **Elvis** people do talk. You nailed it buddy. The problem is that no fuckin body is lissenen. They said…there aren’t any WMD. answer: Sorry, we’re not listenin. They said Iraq’s nuclear weapons evidence is falsified. Sorry, I can’t hear you. They said GWB had reason to expect airhijackings. Sorry, na-na-na fingers in their ears They said our troops would stay and die in Iraq a lot longer than expected. But-b-b-but- sorry… They say GWB will do anything it takes in order to be re-elected. What do you say? No secrets? I don’t think anybody really wants to go there. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/29 "2004-09-05T10:58:05Z")
But I don’t want him (OBL) taken alive. I can think of nothing worse…radical lawyers wanting to defend him, a circus trial, then hundreds of American killed by this assholes followers. No, I want the bullet riddled body to be pissed on, dragged behind the bumper of a truck, and left for rats and crows to eat. Truly a fitting end for a piece of garbage. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/30 "2004-09-05T11:21:11Z")
How about drawn and quartered. Then while he’s still alive we feed him to a herd of swine. Afterwards we could take the herd of swine and grind them into sausage and feed that to Saddam and his bunch. I’d be okay with him simply spending the next 40 years to life slopping the hogs and shoveling their shit. Maybe we could get him Saddam, Dick and George all working at the same nasty place together. 24/7 knee deep in pig shit from now on with nothing to wear and eating the same thing the pigs eat. They’d have to work together to keep the hogs from devouring their asses. Hot, nasty, rancid stench plus muddy water and souring slop to dine on. Maybe some pig sex from time to time. Then in the end to die face down in the mud only to rot while being eaten half alive. Yeah that’d do it. Death is too generous, too forgiving. I mean come on **ralph** have a little imagination. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![altiod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@altiod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/altiod)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/31 "2004-09-05T12:37:34Z")
Yeah, and I’m closer to sleeping with Viggo Mortensen. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/32 "2004-09-05T12:41:59Z")
My prediction: Given the way the press tries to be “objective” without checking facts (as witnessed by the Swift Boat nonsense), I suspect that about a week before the election, the government will announce that they’ve caught bin Laden. This will create much hoopla in the press, and since the security issue seems to be the one where Bush has a major lead, this will influence undecided voters. Ten days or two weeks after the election, when the press has a chance to investigate the facts, it will turn out that they don’t have bin Laden after all, it was just someone who looked like bin Laden. I agree with whoever said that capturing bin Laden doesn’t have any real meaning in practical terms, it won’t dismantle al-Quada. However, it will have enormous publicity value. Words speak much louder than actions. Welcome to 1984. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/33 "2004-09-05T12:58:44Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > How about drawn and quartered. Then while he’s still alive we feed him to a herd of swine. Afterwards we could take the herd of swine and grind them into sausage and feed that to Saddam and his bunch. > I’d be okay with him simply spending the next 40 years to life slopping the hogs and shoveling their shit. Maybe we could get him Saddam, Dick and George all working at the same nasty place together. 24/7 knee deep in pig shit from now on with nothing to wear and eating the same thing the pigs eat. They’d have to work together to keep the hogs from devouring their asses. Hot, nasty, rancid stench plus muddy water and souring slop to dine on. Maybe some pig sex from time to time. Then in the end to die face down in the mud only to rot while being eaten half alive. Yeah that’d do it. Death is too generous, too forgiving. I mean come on **ralph** have a little imagination. > 😉 That sounds so pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/34 "2004-09-05T13:07:12Z")
> [@PussyCow](#): > > 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. Considering that we KNOW the Reagan team pulled EXACTLY the same kind of shit wrt the release of the American hostages, it’s reasonable to suspect Repub admins of treachery. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/35 "2004-09-05T13:21:39Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > This makes no sense to me. YOu mean to say that there’s NO government secret, EVER, that hasn’t been found out? We know everything? Come one now. Yes, small ones, known by only a few, can be kept temporarily. The more important they are, and the more people who know about them, the shorter their shelf lives. This one is overdue if it exists. Consider too that Bush needs a big boost right fucking now, with Osama’s capture being the biggest he could hope for, and you have to conclude this rabbit ain’t in the hat. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/36 "2004-09-05T13:59:47Z")
I find it amusing when people say that the government or any organization can’t possibly keep a BIG secret because too many people know about it. The argument is tautological in the sense that it can’t be proven or disproven either way. If there were any BIG secrets that we didn’t know about…well ya know what? That’s why they call them secrets. If there were any BIG secrets that eventually got discovered then they’ll say…see there I told you they can’t keep a secret. The fact that some secrets/conspiracies have been discovered shows proof (for myself) that there MUST be some that have remained hidden or else they wouldn’t keep trying. The fact that they even TRY to hide the truth is enough evidence for me to not trust the SOB’s. Seems like I recall an experiment in the 1940’s that was pretty secretive and there were thousands of people that knew about it. Yet the specifics were absolutely secret. It stayed that way for years. Hmm… what was the name of that project? Wasn’t there some LSD experiments that stayed a secret for years and years. Nixon’s tapes were kept secret for years and even now there is some information that is not released to the public. no secrets? Yeah okay. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/37 "2004-09-05T15:08:38Z")
Apropos of **C K Dexter Haven** ’s post, which is a prediction that states a “date certain” (“about a week before the election”), would anyone like to predict A) That ObL (the real one) will be caught before the election, and B) _How long_ before the election? If he is caught before the election, many people will say “I told you so!” Others will say, “No, you didn’t.” So right here and now: Tell us. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/38 "2004-09-05T15:39:28Z")
**t-keela** , it wasn’t highly publicized, but neither was it a secret that the US was working on an atomic bomb. The real secrets were only a small part of it, and even then they weren’t totally secure - look up Klaus Fuchs and Julius Rosenberg for background there. LSD experiments? Not big, not secret. Nixon’s tapes? Their existence wasn’t secret, nor were they really big. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/39 "2004-09-05T15:41:00Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > And maybe we did a few months ago when the rumor was flying around. Who was Prisoner XXX anyway? Did we ever find out? That was Vin Diesel, caught sky surfing over Baghdad. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139/40 "2004-09-05T16:00:53Z")
> [@threemae](#): > > 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. But we did know where he was. He was in Tora Bora and we sent Afghan militia in to get him while our armed forces stood around by the front door waiting. Good plan, huh? I know I was shocked when he eluded capture. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-getting-closer-to-bin-laden-capture/263139.md?page=3)