What if Osama is caught between now and the election?

I don't think it would backfire, unfortunately. And further, I think they're already planning something that will get them the momentum back. It's obvious that, toe to toe, their candidate doesn't measure up. They're going to pull out all the stops now to try to recreate the image of Bush as a strong commander in chief.

The fear here is that there are enough ignorant Americans who would fall for the ruse.

Personally, I think bin Laden is dead. And good riddance. Better to let him just wither away rather than turn him into a martyr and a driving cause for the recruitment of terrorism.

What makes you think him dead?

Re: What if Osama is caught between now and the election?


Nobody ever lost by underestimating the intelligence of we masses.

Because neither have we seen him, nor have we heard any mention of him at all from terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda.

I could be wrong. But I think the effectiveness of bin Laden in either promoting or fighting terrorism is pretty much gone. Iraq has given terrorism a whole new meaning in the demonization of America as the evil occupier that must be overthrown.

I'm not much into conspirational theories as y'all know, but this one I can easily imagine happening, yeah.

And it would definitely win Bush the election, I have no doubts about that.

Regardless if bin Laden is caught or not, there are STILL alot of questions regarding 9/11:

http://www.nixtro.com/pentagon121.swf

Here's my current wag-the-dog scenario:

The video is released (nobody seems to know when it was made) to remind people of the boogeyman. Then, they claim that the video gave them important new clues and they nab him by Monday night.

Aaaaarggghhhhh!

Always astonished when seemingly reasonable people fall into the muck of nutty theories.

Hope you're kidding.

LOL!

Nah ... too late now.

Catching Osama the night before the elections? That'd be a bit ... over the top, no?

Soz is just playing with us...right Soz?

which also would seem to work with the scenario proposed by the (non-US) middle-east watchers, who are still saying that Al-Q wants Bush to stay in power. I can't imagine they'd go so far as to give OBL up for that purpose, but perhaps that would be the most perfect martyrdom.

OBL isn't big on martyring himself--he prefers the sacrificial deaths of children...and...basically, somebody else.

Bastard.

Well, I certainly don't know OBL personally, but if he's going to go down, I suspect (from what I've been following in the media over the past 2 years) he's going to want to go down big. A martyrdom would be more valuable than sitting in a hole in Iraq, waiting to be shown to the media. It would be brilliant for the cause.

I may be wrong...(of course, I'm kidding), but the veneer of manliness and such is terribly important with these Stone Age knuckle-draggers. If you remember, even Saddam loyalists were aghast when Saddam didn't hari-kari himself, rather than be in US custody.

OBL would lose face with his peeps if he allowed himself to be captured, and didn't kill himself. It would show them all to be cowards without dignity.

(Sighs heavily. A PC moment to ward off misinterpretation: knuckle draggers reference aimed at ideology, not ethnicity.)

(Damn.)

Yeah, I'm joking... mostly. As this thread indicates, the possibility has long been on my mind, and it occurred to me how the video could play into that.

In my scenario they actually already HAVE him, but are trying to make a plausible excuse for why he would be produced at that particular moment -- so first the video, then ah new clues, then voila, OBL.

This is one of those I don't REALLY think so things, but if it happens I'm so gonna be here saying see? See??

<exhales happily...world begins to spin again...>

Now, class, please take your seats. A very important thing has just occurred, which we must note solemnly.

Our esteemed friend of liberal persuasion, who we know full well to be a reasonable, intelligent, thoughtful sort has just illustrated what has happened to the Democrat party.

She has been associating closely with other Democrats, as she valiantly trevails across the tundra of Ohio, trying to register voters and such...

This is what happens when you get Democrats together. 50% of them **** in the woods, have collected various mental psychosis and are actively infecting the other 50%.

I hope we have inoculated our dear friend.

Dismissed.