Sunday, December 6, 2009

bin Laden eludes US intelligence.... for 8 years now

Ever since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers, the United States has been trying to capture Osama bin Laden. But to no avail. Though the Obama administration has recently been given intelligence that bin Laden has been moving to and from Afghanistan to a secure shelter in Pakistan, Pentagon chief Robert Gates says that the United States has lacked good intelligence on the whereabouts of bin Laden for years. The Bush administration and now the Obama administration have asserted that bin Laden has taken refuge in Pakistan for years now. However, national security adviser James Jones broke new ground by suggesting that though bin Laden takes refuge in Pakistan, he periodically goes to and from Afghanistan. Everything points to the fact that the United States simply does not have proper intelligence to point to where bin Laden has been hiding for more than eight years.

Though I think it is kind of sad that the United States and its allies have failed at finding bin Laden for eight years now, I also think that it underlines how brilliant Osama bin Laden is. Being able to evade US intelligence as well as controlling his terrorist organization from afar is quite a feat for bin Laden, I must say. However I feel that the United States should devote more of its resources to finishing off the war in Afghanistan by making the Afghan government do more of the work. Since Obama has set a flexible withdrawal date for Afghanistan, I think that if we do not find bin Laden by then, the Afghan government should take over the search for bin Laden.

2 comments:

Brian Stephens said...

It may be because of the fact that I don't closely follow the terrorist-hunt put on by our country, but I was shocked to hear this about Bin Laden.

I thought people were under the impression that he was dead?...

This is awful news, and I can only imagine what conflict lies ahead.

Talia Y. said...

Of course the U.S. is trying to locate Osama bin Laden, but I think the task is so much harder than it sounds. The country is definitely not small and he could be hiding anywhere. He is undercover and probably looks like the average person living in Afghanistan or Pakistan. I agree that this possibly means the U.s. intelligence is not strong enough to find him, especially after 8 years, but I don't think they have any other solutions or ways to go about getting better intelligence. I also believe that the U.S. should have the Afghan government do more of the work. I'm not sure if their government is strong enough or secure enough right now though... Either way, I think the U.S. should focus more on the problems back in the United States. Unemployment is still high and the economy is not so hot either. How much longer is the U.S. going to search for Osama bin Laden?