CNN reported yesterday that the military is about to “up [the] high-tech ante” in the search for Osama bin Laden.
The Pentagon is considering beefing up the already enhanced technology U.S. forces are using to search for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This report comes just a week after CNN explained:
U.S. forces searching for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan will soon implement high-tech surveillance tactics in the region, enabling them to monitor the area 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I don’t mean to sound picky, but we’re just now getting around to beefing up the search? The terrorist strikes bin Laden orchestrated — the ones that killed over 3,000 Americans on U.S. soil — happened exactly 18 months ago today. But now that we’re done with “major combat operations” in Iraq — the country that posed no immediate threat to the U.S. — we’re ready to really start looking for bin Laden. How encouraging.
These reports are breathtaking when considered in context. By explaining that we’re going to use more of our technological resources to hunt for bin Laden, we’re admitting that we weren’t using everything at our disposal to find him before. By explaining that the search will now be 24-7, we’re admitting that the chase was less than full time before.
Which leads me to wonder: was the hunt for bin Laden needlessly sidetracked because of Iraq or because it wasn’t close enough to Election Day?