We may not agree with him, or I may not, but he's the one person who would know better than anyone (except bin Laden, who apparently isn't talking;)

I was not a dictator: Musharraf

:P

I should have said, his behavior made it obvious he was a dictator despite comments to the contrary;) My point is that 911 and bin Laden get trotted out as the excuse for any action taken in Iraq or Afghanistan, not to mention, the ongoing enforcement of the Patriot Act and other outrages against the people. It's just 1984 twenty five years later.

I doubt that the president would pick that forum unless he planned a military action. Can you imagine him saying something like this?

The mission in Afghanistan was betrayed by those who failed to provide troops to capture in Laden at Tora Bora. The first bin Laden tape was a fake in all probability and the pre election tape was criticized effectively enough to case serious doubt. The use of 911 to justify ongoing presence in Afghanistan has been shameless. Our presence has done little to help the country and that nation is now ruled by an election thief with connections to drug trafficking. We're leaving.
What Pres. Obama will not say at West Point

I can't. We're screwed, again.

I hesitate to say what I actually think of Obama until after his speech since technically, he's still taking the route Gen. Eikenberry so carefully and courageously outlined. But if there's an escalation announcement tomorrow, the gloves are off. We'll see how much the administration cares by the number of trolls they dispatch. I seriously doubtu that they care at all what the public thinks.

...withdraw, at least do it on the basis of actual data rather than fantasy. Dragging in spurious stuff like the fake bin Laden meme predominantly sold by folks who know about zip about transnational terrorism (a certain previously obscure theologian springs readily to mind here) doesn't help anybody's argument and only helps obscure a set of extremely thorny and problematic issues. There are any number of things that deserve greater attention than they've received and letting fantasy suck the air out of the debate doesn't serve anyone.

“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel...may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly." ~ Richard Haass

Having to explain humor/irony means it failed so I'll take credit for that. I should have included one more sentence after the initial quote: It doesn't matter if he's dead or alive, he can't be allowed to die. Had I included those words, I'd have been wrong. bin Laden was allowed to "die." Last night, Pres. Obama made it official - there was no mention of him in the West Point speech. I comment on that elsewhere accompanied by salient facts.

I truly wish I had the power to "suck the air out of the debate." I'd apply it in a very simple and straight forward fashion. Before those who seek permission to rule me embark on any foreign adventure, they'd have to answer this question: "What gives you the right to kill or maim anyone in this situation?" That wouldn't necessarily have stopped the attempt to catch bin Laden after 9/11. It would have stopped many of the hundreds of unconstitutional military incursions since FDR. It certainly would have stopped Iraq, Viet Nam, Panama, etc. etc.

As for the fantasy factor regarding bin Laden, we'll see how that works out. La Figaro & the Guardian reported that bin Laden was on dialysis. If he was at risk for renal failure, the NWFP is not exactly the best place to get care. Adding that to the serious questions about the first tape and the political evil of the pre election 2004 tape, plus technical questions about the second, create a fair conjecture that the guy is gone. That wasn't my point. Rather, the cynical redaction of history which amount to lies that form the basis for ongoing killing and maiming is something that I find objectionable beyond words.

Pardon my delay in getting back.

The effectiveness of the complete self-starters is, to put it charitably, very spotty. The track record of those who have even just a little bit of operational training, which has typically been sponsored by the core organization or its close affiliates, has been much, much superior. Key to keeping these guys low on the "nuisance" end of the scale is limiting the core's freedom of action.

“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel...may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly." ~ Richard Haass