Three years after the attack on New York's World Trade Center, the manhunt for Osama bin Laden has failed to produce the world's most wanted terrorist, and, according to the former No. 3 man at the CIA, that's just fine. Former Central Intelligence Agency executive, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, has told the London Times that letting the al-Qaida leader run free may actually make the world a safer place. Buzzy wasn't fuzzy was he
"You can make the argument that we're better off with him (at large)," Krongard said. "Because if something happens to bin Laden, you might find a lot of people vying for his position and demonstrating how macho they are by unleashing a stream of terror."
| That's a pretty fatuously contrarian argument, especially coming from someone who's supposed to have been in the intel business. Binny's the head Bad Boy. He needs to be killed or captured because he's the one with all the connections to the al-Ghamdis and the princes plus the adoration of the Arab street. Any likely successor, with the exception of Zawahiri, might have one, but not the other. And the follow-on would have to be an immediate hit at the successor, whoever he may be, like the IDF with Rantissi following Sheikh Yassin's departure from the gene pool. Any factors in favor of leaving Binny alive have long since dissipated: It would have made a perverse sort of sense (and may have actually) to leave him alive but ineffective following Tora Bora. Had he been outright killed then, the Lefties would have said something to the effect of "Okay, he's dead. War's over. Let's find our who really killed Jon Benet." |
six weeks out and he is allready talking, when's the book coming out. The stench of the Clinton Administration.
Krongard sees bin Laden's role "not as a chief executive but more like a venture capitalist."
terrorist, warlord, murderer,islamofacist,...?
"Let's say you and I want to blow up Trafalgar Square," Krongard says. "So we go to bin Laden. And he'll say, 'Well, here's some money and some passports and if you need weapons, see this guy.' I don't see him keeping his fingers on everything because the lines of communications are just too difficult." Krongard is the most senior official to date to publicly question the wisdom of capturing Osama. If his views are widely shared — and the London Times reports that other U.S. officials have privately said pinning bin Laden down on the Afghan-Pakistan border is preferable to making him a martyr or trying him — they represent a break with three years of official pronouncements about bringing him to justice. The shift in thinking certainly reflects the difficulty the CIA has had getting inside Islamist groups. "There are hundreds and hundreds of cells — it's like a living, moving bit of protoplasm," Krongard explains. "In order to penetrate you not only have to be language-proficient, you also have to commit acts that exceed criminality. It's very hard."
well Buzzy, what price are you willing to pay for not wanting to get your hands dirty? Sometimes the ends do justify the means. Sure it is a tough job; however, you accepted your paycheck for two weeks work every pay period for a tough job. You did not do it, now just quietly go away as you are making a complete idiot out of yourself
Only this week the U.S. re-stated its desire to capture the elusive bin Laden and more than a dozen other al-Qaida figures by placing a half page ad in the Urdu daily "Jang" promising millions of dollars in rewards. "All the information would be kept secret," the U.S. Justice Department advertisement promised. Krongard continues. "He's turning into more of a charismatic leader than a terrorist mastermind. Some of his lieutenants are the ones to worry about."