Bush dream of catching ‘Osama dead or alive’ died the day Richard Armitage forced Pakistan to join US fight against terrorism under the threat of ‘dire consequences’ to Pakistan if Pakistan didn’t.

And that Bush dream was buried on the day Bush administration unwittingly allowed Musharraf to spirit away by airlift hundreds, if not thousands, of Taliban operatives cornered by the advancing Northern Alliance in Kunduz in November, 2001. Pakistan relocated those Taliban cadres including Mullah Mohammed Omar in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan and Haqqani network (HQN) in North Waziristan from where Mullah Omar’s QST and Haqqani’s HQN have been planning raids in Afghanistan ever since.

By pretending to join US fight against terrorism, Pakistan was able to avoid direct US military attack on Pakistani soil and has been able to continue to shelter, protect and support Al Qaeda with its leader and countless other terrorist outfits on its soil.

Osama bin Laden is a ’golden goose’ worth millions of times his weight in even today’s inflated gold price for Pakistan in the form of US and international aid. There is NO WAY in the world that Pakistan will ever allow US to catch its ‘golden goose’.

After 10 long years of Afghan war, US has neither the desire nor the resources to invade and occupy its erstwhile ally Pakistan to carry out sustained search to find and kill/catch Osama Bin Laden.

Bush dream of catching ‘Osama dead or alive’ died the day Richard Armitage forced Pakistan to join US fight against terrorism under the threat of ‘dire consequences’ to Pakistan if Pakistan didn’t.

And that Bush dream was buried on the day Bush administration unwittingly allowed Musharraf to spirit away by airlift hundreds, if not thousands, of Taliban operatives cornered by the advancing Northern Alliance in Kunduz in November, 2001. Pakistan relocated those Taliban cadres including Mullah Mohammed Omar in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan and Haqqani network (HQN) in North Waziristan from where Mullah Omar’s QST and Haqqani’s HQN have been planning raids in Afghanistan ever since.

By pretending to join US fight against terrorism, Pakistan was able to avoid direct US military attack on Pakistani soil and has been able to continue to shelter, protect and support Al Qaeda with its leader and countless other terrorist outfits on its soil.

Osama bin Laden is a ’golden goose’ worth thousands of times his weight in even today’s inflated gold price for Pakistan to milk Uncle Sam and other donors in the form of international aid. There is NO WAY in the world that Pakistan will ever allow US to catch its ‘golden goose’.

After 10 long years of Afghan war thanks to that Bush blunder in November, 2001, US has neither the desire nor the resources to invade and occupy its erstwhile ally Pakistan to carry out sustained search needed to find and kill/catch Osama Bin Laden.

Besides the 100,000 uniforms, there are another 100,000 armed mercenaries, many ex US military raking in $400,000/y "defending America". Why aren't these mentioned? Too embarrased to acknowledge that all these stoopid white Christians are being whipped by a few thousand Talebs and 50 or so AL qaeda?

Al qaeda, which Bergen estimates never exceeded 800 at 9/11, have pulled off the most oustading coup ever. With a few thousand $ and 20 or so commandos they got the idiot American political and military leadership to bury itself in a $10 trillion hole.

Or since the military-industrial-security is making so much out of these wars, they have a huge vested interest in continuuing the wars? Modern American imperialsm is all about plunder. Plundering the Treasury, plundering our Treasury and making the rest of us poorer.

The Confederacy used the same tactics, to get Lincoln, only after it had been licked. And what did the 100,000 redenecks get themselves killed for? God?

I agree with Mr. Martel that Osama is Pakistan's Golden Goose and ace in the hole. And they are playing it for every nickel. I am near certain he is in Dir Lower and that the US has a very good idea exactly where. But we will not pull the trigger. Yet. This takes courage. Every time we get ready to act, something happens to mess it up. Now it is Raymond Davis; before that Salman Taseer's assassination; before that it was logistics. It is always something that happens to stay our hand. Everyone worries about the blowback. Well? Is the blowback potential greater now than when we first found him, and should that matter when concerning justice? No. The US needs to pull the trigger and let the chips fall where they may. in the Name of Justice.

I will dismiss the fact that many people are conflicted about taking-down BinLaden, it's true but there are enough people who would not hesitate to blow him away, for politics or money, that I do not believe that is the reason he remains at large.

In my, albeit very distant, estimation, there are two possibilities. One, that he can't found because he's dead and his body has been reduced to tallow to perpetuate a narrative — like the Lost Dutchman Mine myth.

Two, that he's alive and he is not where people are looking for him... When I was a young rock photographer in Hollywood, I earned extra money working for lawyers to find runaway kids. It was a good gig because I made it easy. I found out everything I could about the young person, pics, descriptions, friends, phonebooks, then I'd go to the places in LA where I would go if I was that sort of kid. Then I put word through someone who knew me and knew that I was not a cop. that I only wanted to get the kids to call home to let their parents know they were OK and that if they needed anything they could call me and I'd arrange it. After a while, there were people in many of the places where kids hung-out in Hollywood and all around LA., who got to know and trust me... so the game got easier as it went alone... I assume — with obvious differences — that's how intelligence networks are constructed...

Apart from the fact that intelligence gathering in this part of the world is more dangerous, it's not impossible. Anyway, that leads me to believe that the reason we have not found Osama is that he's not there. If he's not ensconced safely in Iran or Syria, where he would be a hot-potatato and his presence would be a casus belli, my guess, attempting to think like Bin Laden would be that he'd be in Karachi, in a big modern compound in a middle-class neighborhood as far away from the action as possible, in a big flat with no telephone & no visual access from the air... a place where regular people come & go on a regular basis but Osama never leaves. That's where I'd be... not in some cave with a kidney dialysis machine.

I speculate that we should widen the net... We'll see.

@joeyfoto, It is for the reasons you explained about finding the kids in LA. Good job, Joey. Osama once said he would die in the Hindu Kush. He loves the mountains. He is protected by a vast encirclement of diehard loyalists, including Pak security people.

In October of 2004 a village was taken over by "notorius Taliban commander Mohammed Khan." Khan was returning to Dir with his cadres who had been fighting in Afghanistan. This was a three day takeover, but was reported only once in obscure Pakistani news sites. Once. Twenty-two villagers were killed, 54 taken hostage, and 34 houses burned. The news said the local inhabitants who had been ousted appealed all of the way to Musharraf but nothing was done. A jirga decided in favor of Khan, because Khan had heavy weapons.

At the end of 2001, Commander Topol of the Northern Alliance was tasked to guard a bombed al-Qaeda camp in Af. He found considerable evidence left over after the Americans had searched the camp. Among the finds was a receipt for 5,000 new Kalishnikovs; a transmittal sent to Khandak, Pakistan. Khandak is NE of Maidan in Lower Dir. Maidan is where Sufi Mohammed ran a madrassa attended briefly by Mullah Omar when Omar was 22. Sufi Mohammed had sent 450 fighters from Maidan to Af in October 2001.

You may wonder why I am spilling this. My theory was put to Abu Faraj al-Libi in June 2005. He confirmed my guess. Why am I telling you? Because the US has been seriously intimidated by Pakistan; by Musharraf, Kayani, and Pasha. If Osama goes down in Dir I remain confident I will get some credit. I have been dealing with this awhile. I agreed we should keep him alive in order to get the intel to take the rest of them down, too. But it has been too long, and by telling you this I am trying to get him to move. Something has got to happen when he moves.

Joey (and Peter),

Here is a spot to look on Google Earth: 35.023 N 71.830 E. It is steep, it is forested, and it is reverse slope. Look for the smoke when its cold. I'm sure he's comfortable. He also has caves there. Take a look, please. (Peter, WB has much of my stuff.)