Althouse: Not necessarily not dead.

December 7, 2005

Not necessarily not dead.

Al-Jazeera withdraws some reassurance about the continuing existence of Osama bin Laden.

11 comments:

erp said...: Osama in his molecular form has been one with the scum on the walls of a cave deep under the earth. If he were still alive, why wouldn't he be on videotape giving aid and comfort to his followers?; 12/7/05, 7:43 AM
Peter Hoh said...: Reports of my noon-death have been greatly exaggerated.; 12/7/05, 8:37 AM
Sloanasaurus said...: Victory in Iraq will spell total defeat for the Al Qaeda movement (for this century at least). How will Al Qaeda recruit when they have suffered a most terrible defeat.

Osama's mistake was fighting in Iraq. Osama should have kept attacking us in the west.; 12/7/05, 9:38 AM
Anonymous said...: Are people forgetting the videotape from Osama before last year's election. He's still very much alive.

Did he die in the Pakistani earthquake? I think the chances that we got that lucky are less than 0.1%.; 12/7/05, 9:44 AM
goesh said...: Awww, he died of kidney complications and his remains were cremated on the Pakistani frontier, even the ash burned a second time, in a last act of defiance, that Western forensics can never prove his death. He remains a long-living symbol having stabbed the heart of the great satan nation America, able to evade capture by the infidels. That is his legacy. With box cutters he took down the epitome of industrial might of satan America - and Bush so wanted his head on a pike on the front lawn of the White House.; 12/7/05, 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Sloanasaurus said...

Victory in Iraq will spell total defeat for the Al Qaeda movement (for this century at least). How will Al Qaeda recruit when they have suffered a most terrible defeat.

Osama's mistake was fighting in Iraq. Osama should have kept attacking us in the west.

Huh? Al Qaeda is popular and respected in the Islamic world for having the guts to take on the US. Defeat in Iraq? Al Qaeda has gotten what they asked for. We have left Saudi Arabia, and Bush is conceding that Bin Laden was correct that American's can't deal with difficult occupations in the mid-east.

George Bush has single handedly turned Osama Bin Laden from CIA sponsored terrorist into a world statesmen.

Woohoo!; 12/7/05, 10:01 AM
Ron said...: Ann, your post title feels Pythonesque! "I'm not dead yet!"; 12/7/05, 10:32 AM
Peter Hoh said...: In my earlier comment, that should have been "Non-death," not "noon-death."

quxxo reminds me of something I've heard about the Middle Eastern mindset. One can gain status even by losing in that region of the world. One's status is determined, in part, by the strength of his enemies.; 12/7/05, 11:11 AM
Sloanasaurus said...: "....Huh? Al Qaeda is popular and respected in the Islamic world for having the guts to take on the US. Defeat in Iraq?...."

This is wrong. The Administration reported that Kahlid (the brains behind 9/11) fessed up that Osama's goal was to bring the U.S. to Afghanistan. The Iraq invasion was a total suprise to Osama. By the time of Iraq, he had been isolated an had no choice but to put his rhetoric behind Zarqawi.

It was a fatal mistake. Al Qaeda has blown its wad in Iraq. Nearly all of Osama's Afghan trained terrorists have been liquidated in Iraq.

Al Qaeda is at an end.; 12/7/05, 1:44 PM
Anonymous said...: How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?; 12/7/05, 3:40 PM
Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...: Quxxo:
Al Qaeda is popular and respected in the Islamic world for having the guts to take on the US.

Well, they sort of were, but Zarqawi is rapidly destroying that, what with his family and the entire nation of Jordan up in arms. The idea that he is universally supported, and that all Arabs think alike, is a bit dated and, shall we say, a mite bit simplistic (to use a softer version of the word I am really thinking of).

Quxxo: We have left Saudi Arabia, and Bush is conceding that Bin Laden was correct that American's can't deal with difficult occupations in the mid-east.

Uh, no. We left Saudi Arabia (a most practical thing to do one should think) at our own pace, and with the knowledge that we would have more flexibility working out of Qatar. We had begun building the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar back in 2001.

Bush is not conceding anything. Rather, he is making an oddly difficult argument that you finish what you start. He has pointed out that our enemies know that the American public often cannot tolerate difficult occupations.

Al Queda struck us several times, and FIRST. Even after moving out of Saudi Arabia, our contamination of the holy land being Osama's original beef for slaughtering innocent Americans arriving at work, the attacks continue. They will generally keep happening whether we are in, or out, of Iraq. But it would be much nicer having a thriving Iraq in the process, and as one possible alternative to the various existing Arab and Persian governing styles.; 12/8/05, 5:38 AM