Wanted dead or alive — or whenever

July 4, 2006

The president’s interest in capturing Osama bin Laden has evolved over time. After the al Qaeda leader orchestrated the attacks of 9/11, Bush pledged to get bin Laden “dead or alive.” Six months later, after bin Laden proved to be elusive, the president said, “I truly am not that concerned about him.”

So it should come as no surprise that the CIA unit dedicated to getting bin Laden is no more.

The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

Michael Scheuer, a former senior CIA official who was the first head of the unit, said the move “will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda.”

The official response is that there are still plenty of officials responsible to tracking bin Laden and that the terrorist remains a “high priority.” But I’m curious, if President Kerry had allowed the CIA to disband the intelligence unit tasked with hunting bin Laden, would conservatives just shrug their shoulders?

No surprise, indeed. The Royal Buffoon used bin Laden to get “re-elected” in 2004, and Osama doesn’t scare Americans as before. So, he had to be thrown overboard, just like everyone else that Georgie Boy II has done before to those that are no longer useful to his evil designs. Natch….

  • I love the Carpetbagger Report, and I know you’re not the world’s best speller, but please, please, please stop writing “al Queda”.

  • At least they have finally dispensed with the whole charade of the chase. I just wonder if anyone in the mainstream media will be asking this important question the next time Bush or anyone in his administration brings up Bin Laden.

  • What is it with the Bush Crime Family? GHWB headed the CIA. The Iran hostages were released the very moment GHWB became VP and Ronnie became Prez. GWB bounced to delerious heights in popularity as the WTC went down and the Regal Moron read “My Pet Goat” and the bin Ladens’ escape plane was the only one allowed to fly. Now that OBL is boring the CIA has been ordered to abandon the hunt.

    There’s going to be a hell of a CIA-GHWB-OBL-GWB story to tell, someday.

    How is it that the GOP can “move on” when it comes to the major mass murderer in the US history but just can’t let go when it comes to Clinton’s blowjob?

  • How do you type Queda anyway? U is next to neither q, e, d, or a.

    DVORAK?

  • I love the Carpetbagger Report, and I know you’re not the world’s best speller, but please, please, please stop writing “al Queda”.

    OK, just for you, KC, I won’t do it again.

  • What’s the problem? We’re dealing with two distinct alphabets here. According to this source you can spell it Kida, Queda, Quaeda, Quaida, Qaida, Qaeda, Kaeda, or Kaida. I guess it depends which version of the Quran, Koran or Qur’an you’re reading.

  • The Royal Buffoon used bin Laden to get “re-elected” in 2004, and Osama doesn’t scare Americans as before. So, he had to be thrown overboard, just like everyone else that Georgie Boy II has done before to those that are no longer useful to his evil designs.

    Possibly. But I think we’ll see Osama pop up with another threatening video or audiotape between now and November. He hasn’t quite outlived his usefulness.

  • If — please, just let me do an “IF” — If President Al Gore had been in office and 9/11 happened the same way (yes, I know, just let me posit just this one ‘if’)…

    …there would have been millions of Republicans with torches and pitchforks outside the White House demanding that Democrat traitor failure Gore be turned over for an immediate lynching. Congress would have complied instantly and he would have been impeached and convicted by the morning of 9/12.

    And the Democratic Party would have been outlawed as a treasonous failure which allowed the biggest and deadliest foreign attack ever on US soil.

    Not so with Republicans. Apparently having 9/11 happen on their watch is seen not as a failure, but as a clear sign that they were instead vigilant, triumphant brave heroes.

  • Thanks, CB. I realize my reaction is overblown, but we all have our triggers. I think the hyperventilation has passed.

    Ed, that source just says that “visitors” (commenters?) sometimes spell it that way, and of course they do. That doesn’t mean there’s any basis for saying it’s right. “Qaida” versus “Qaeda” is a question of the transliteration system used. “Queda” is just a mistake made when someone assumes (or their typing fingers assume) that “Q” is always followed by “u”.

  • There is a report out that al-Zarqawi’s wife (maybe she is/was, maybe not) is saying that Bin Laden turned over Zarqawi to the US in exchange for us not hunting him too hard. There is confirmed information that Bin Laden didn’t like Zaqawi from the moment they met, and that he felt Zarqawi was undermining the cause.

    This might sound like tinfoil hat time, but given everything else we know about the Bush crime family, it sounds reasonable (reasonable to believe they would do it, not that it’s actually “reasonable”). Bush needs Bin Laden so much he would have invented him had he not been there. bin Laden’s been the excuse for everything Boy George and Dead-Eye have done to subvert the constitution and destroy the country since 9/11.

  • As in “1984,” our version of Big Brother (Kid George) cannot continue to exist, once his version of Goldstein (OBL) is brought to justice. There’s a second “plus-side” to disbanding the “get-Osama” unit; one that many might not even comprehend: Making it harder for a Dem-controlled government to capture the terror mastermind might be part of the master plan to bring the GOP back in at a later date—with a rousing “I-told-you-so” attitude aimed squarely at a shameful electorate for daring to compromise the security of the Homeland….

  • Just assume that the Pentagon and Rumsfeld are taking over more of the CIA turf. Then there is not much to this news. Considering Bush’s poll ratings there is no question that bringing Osama in now would be a great help to the GOP. Remember the stories about how Pakistan was feeling the heat to help find him before the 2004 elections? You can bet the same happening in Pakistan right now. And Osama doesn’t need to read this in the NYTimes.

  • Not to digress, but spelling al Qaeda/Queda/Quada reminds of how noone in the 80s could ever decide on a common spelling for Libya’s Khaddafi.

    Tom,
    Not tin foil hat time. My dad and I had a discussion along this line, except we thought that it was not al Q(u)(a)(y)(e)da directly, but the group in Iraq.

    Zarqawi, according to the US’s own public reports, was not popular with the indigenous insurgents in Iraq, and may have gone a little overboard in his attacks on both Shia and Sunni Iraqis. I believe someone in his ranks, probably his #2, ratted him out, both as a power grab and also to get rid of someone who was becoming a liability to the cause.

    That being said, it does seem a weird coincidence that we get this story from Zarqawi’s wife at the same time we learn CIA had disbanded its bin Laden unit.
    Weird indeed……………

  • Is bin Laden a has-been? Has has-been bin Laden been binned? Will the GOP “move on” from Clinton’s penis? Will we be told?

    — a short rest reqauired. Zzzzzz

  • (The smartass in me really wants to find out what happens if I answer “the question” with “yellow”…but I’ll be good.)

    I had a similar reaction when I heard the news, especially finding out that it was disbanded late last year and we are just now finding out about it. The Kremlin could have learned a few tricks from these guys when it comes to keeping information away from public scrutiny.

    I posted my impressions at The Young Turks (my regular keyboard-stomping ground) If your diet is lacking in outrage, it’s a bit of a supplement for you.

    Thanks to Crooks & Liars for introducing me to Carpetbaggers. (I usually use “al Qaeda,” myself. Be nice.)

  • Happy independence day to my southern neighbours.

    CB asks “But I’m curious, if President Kerry had allowed the CIA to disband the intelligence unit tasked with hunting bin Laden, would conservatives just shrug their shoulders?”

    Of course they would. The Rovian cons always ask themselves WWJD and be the picture of grace and intelligence.

    Pardon the stench of sarcasm. The reality is the Rov Cons would charged all the news outlets to howl and stomp their little feet till their faces turned blue from lack of oxygen.

    But then again, I seriously doubt Kerry would do something so stupid.

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