Originally posted by: Bowfinger
Originally posted by: Corn
No one is denying that Bush disbanded the OBL unit and I think that the core claim of the supposed story lies in author's question: " Is it no longer important to track him down?" I think Bush answered that question directly.
Bowfinger, answer this: Do you believe that Bush ordered the CIA to stop looking for bin Laden?
Let me give you a nuanced answer: no, not entirely. If we accept this story at face value, it strongly suggests the Bush administration has once again diverted assets that should be used to find bin Laden. That doesn't mean we've stopped looking, but that our effort has been reduced. I say "again" since Bush diverted assets from Afghanistan 3.5 years ago to launch his folly in Iraq. This allowd bin Laden to escape according to many reports, including a very credible article posted here recently. Given the way the Bush administration has publically ignored OBL for the last couple of years, it wouldn't surprise me at all if there were other, unpublicized cutbacks as well, a gradual attrition of the assets focused on tracking down OBL.
A fly in the ointment is that one can make a plausible case that it is in the Bush administration's self-interest to keep bin Laden at large. He is quite useful as a boogeyman to keep the public and cowardly Congress-critters in line. After all, as we see here all the time, any questioning of BushCo actions is met with cries of "soft on terror" and "hating America". I haven't decided if I believe this or not -- I certainly have nothing to prove it -- but I recognize it is a possibility and it is, in my opinion, quite consistent with the Rovian, politics-first focus of the Bush administration.