# Valid Reason For CIA Boss Porter Goss Saying He Has An Excellent Idea Where UBL Is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 22, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418 "2005-06-22T19:13:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/21 "2005-06-24T00:54:45Z")
I like the way vice president [Cheney handled the question](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050623-8.html) today: > [@](#): > > Q Let’s talk about Porter Goss, the CIA Director. He says he has an excellent idea where Osama bin Laden is hiding out. Do you? > > THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’ve got a pretty good idea of a general area that he’s in, but I – I don’t have the street address. > > Q What is the general area? > > THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don’t talk – I don’t – I don’t – > > Q It’s been widely reported to be somewhere along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. > > THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don’t talk about intelligence matters like that. > > Q But it’s – but it’s not Iran because some – like – > > THE VICE PRESIDENT: I’m – I – Eloquent. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/22 "2005-06-24T10:39:10Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Same reason they send dogs out to spook the quail. A moving target is easier to hit than one that’s hidden. If the people he’s got hiding him have done their jobs, he’ll be almost impossible to find, and the best way to find him is to get those people to keep moving him from place to place. Eventually they’ll slip up and somebody will recognize him. The CIA’s newest tactic; reverse psychology. It’s brilliant!! ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/23 "2005-06-24T13:17:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I have an excellent idea of where he is Which may well be an entirely correct as well as an entirely useless statement. In fact _I_ can name a location that UBL is within 4,000 miles of. I wonder if that’s Mr. Goss’ idea too? ---
**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/24 "2005-06-24T13:46:58Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Maybe he’s in DurkaDurkastan, which is protected by North Korean Jets. F\*ck yeah! ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/25 "2005-06-24T14:27:03Z")
When I saw that piece of news I was also flurstered to what he meant by that… my first reaction was that it was braggart bullsh\*t. From reading this thread I think its just politics and showing confidence. BTW I know where Bin Laden is… Asia. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/26 "2005-06-24T14:44:03Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Eloquent. 😉 I was wondering why I haven’t heard the term ‘gravitas’ in about 4 years. > [@Rashak Mani](#): > > BTW I know where Bin Laden is… Asia. It’s all relative. If you go and pinpoint the planet Earth as a ‘good’ idea of location, Asia could only be described as an excellent one. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/27 "2005-06-24T19:22:03Z")
He doesn’t know but is bluffing in the hope UBL will move to a place he can be discovered. 😉😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/28 "2005-06-24T21:33:13Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > It’s all relative. If you go and pinpoint the planet Earth as a ‘good’ idea of location, Asia could only be described as an excellent one. Ok lets refine even more our “excellent idea”… he is in an Asian MUSLIM country ! That should make it that much easier to capture him. :smack: Aren’t we feeling safer now that the CIA is on top of it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418/29 "2005-06-24T21:48:44Z")
Or possibly, “I know where Bin Laden is–roasting in Hell, having died in late 2001 … he’ll be tough to capture there.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valid-reason-for-cia-boss-porter-goss-saying-he-has-an-excellent-idea-where-ubl-is/309418.md?page=1)