Afghanistan and bin Laden

"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)

I was watching Fareed Zacharia interview Hamid Kharzai on Sunday morning, on CNN, where he stated that Osama bin Laden was not in Afghanistan. So, I began wondering, just what have we been doing there that we want to send additional troops to accomplish?

According to US intelligence sources, nobody knows where Osama bin Laden has been since 2001, when he was in  caves at Tora Bora. To say that he was living in some caves is a bit misleading. They were more like loft apartments, having been excavated by the bin Laden construction company, and there was even a swimming pool. The CIA operations head for the region knew where he was and asked the Pentagon for backup of 600 to 800 Army Rangers. The request was denied and the Pentagon has declined to explain its reasoning ever since. Instead, they used native forces with about 50 American pseudo-soldiers helping, only to learn that they were a few hours too late.

Since then there hasn't been any credible information on his whereabouts. He could still be in Pakistan, or he could be hanging out in some chalet in Saudi Arabia, or anywhere in the world with one of his 52 brothers, sisters, or cousins. George Bush has stated that capturing bin Laden would serve no purpose.

But lately, George Bush has been wondering what kind of legacy he is leaving behind. Since June he has upped the number of drone flights into Pakistan, which is why we are hearing of planes being shot at. He has also engaged British commando units to go over the border, which was reported by the Sunday Times. Using the British military so the US press would have less opportunity to catch wind of what is going on. Musharraf was resistant to these border incursions, but he was ousted in the nick of time and the new government has said please, do what you will.

I think it's interesting that our military bases in Afghanistan mirror the route of an oil pipeline that is being built from the Caspian Sea to Turkey. An oil pipeline that was first proposed to the Taliban government, who declined the offer, and were then invaded by the United States. The pipeline contract was then granted by the Kharzai government, who had previously been in the employ of Union Oil.

Kharzai is also negotiating with the Taliban, and if he can get them to work for him, they can isolate Al Qaeda forces, leaving no real reason for us to be there. The Middle East will never truly become democratic the way that we want it to, their societies are based on tribalism, which has led to the same conflicts for the last 1500 years. And if we can pull out of Iraq without the condom breaking, we will have ended two wars and imposed a peace that will last a thousand years. You know, until the next time.