American ambassador to Pakistan doubts Osama bin Laden is still in charge

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan said on Monday he did not believe Osama bin Laden was still in operational control of al-Qaida and the militant network was in "serious trouble."

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, Ryan Crocker contradicted comments in a video interview posted on an Islamist Web site last week in which al-Qaida's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, said bin Laden was still leading the group's war on the West.

"I think that Osama bin Laden is no longer the operational head of al-Qaida, because he is hiding deep inside the mountains and he doesn't have contact with the al-Qaida people," Crocker said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10435379/from/RL.2/

...............................................

It is more likely now than ever before that 20 years from now, history will record that GWB did more to change the course of ME history for the good than any single man before him.

And all the while, the Traitors of the Democrat Party did everything they could to derail him.....

what a legacy.....

Your statement, "It is more likely now than ever before that 20 years from now, history will record that GWB did more to change the course of ME history for the good than any single man before him." is out of context.
It should read:

"It is more likely now than ever before that 20 years from now, history will record that GWB did more to change the course of ME history for the good of the Bush family and their friends than any single man before him."

And like the rest of the lemming mentalities of the right, you fall back on your old reliable canard of anti-Clintonian cartoons. Tsk tsk tsk.

He wasn't appointed by me, I mean the President.   He's a really good source for future history.   Much more reliable than Osama.

Let's kill those traitors!!  What are you waiting for???

that this abomination of a foreign policy pursued by this administration is primarily about the personal enrichment of the Bush family, I think that not only have you missed the broad side of the barn by a considerable distance, but you were as well blindfolded and facing in the wrong direction.

actions no doubt lead to more soldiers deaths than would have otherwise occured.

it will have to suffice that history applies egg to the faces of Hanoi John, Dipshit Dean, and his ilk...

was appointed by GWB and works at the pleasure of GWB says Osama has been neutralized by GWB. Hmmmm. That's good enough for me.

If they are, that doesn't mean we are any safer.  Possibly they are the one organisation that had the capability to pull-off a spectacular, large scale attack on 9/11.  But four guys with backpacks killed and maimed scores in London last July, terrorism doesn't have to be on a huge scale to be effective.

There a plenty of militant extremists and would-be terrorists to be concerned about.  If al-Qaida is now weakened amd recruiting and training fewer than before that's clearly a good thing but hardly an overall victory in the so-called 'war on terror'.

"Two years after the Pakistani Army began operations in border tribal areas to root out members of Al Qaeda and other foreign militants, Pakistani officials who know the area say the military campaign is bogged down, the local political administration is powerless and the militants are stronger than ever.

Both Osama bin Laden, who released a new audiotape of threats against the United States this week, and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are believed to be living somewhere in the seven districts that make up these tribal areas, which run for more than 500 miles along the rugged Afghan border and have been hit by several American missile strikes in recent weeks.

The officials said they had been joined by possibly hundreds of foreign militants from Arab countries, Central Asia and the Caucasus, who present a continuing threat to the authorities within the region.

The tribal areas are off limits to foreign journalists, but the Pakistani officials, and former residents who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said the militants - who call themselves Taliban - now dispensed their own justice, ran their own jails, robbed banks, shelled military and civilian government compounds and attacked convoys at will. They are recruiting men from the local tribes and have gained a hold over the population through a mix of fear and religion, the officials and former residents said."

Have you seen hit squads?  Do you think a Democrat could actually put together a 2 hour beer blast in a stadium parking lot?

Or what is your theory?

And why do you forget Murtha?  After all, he's a Democrat.   I'll admit, he hasn't outed any covert operatives, but he did agree that the US should go to war in Iraq.

Obviously, pulling out the troops will lead to more deaths, because they will be out of the war zone.  I'm sure they will all die of auto accidents, heart attacks from too many donuts, and raditation poisoning from too much TV, and they would have none of these risks in a war zone.

There should be no doubt that Americans need Richard Nixon back to stay the course, and get peace with honor, and to support the casket manufacturers at home and abroad.

you're mucking with our re-election here.  Just like 1940 all over again.

Indians to a bloody parade rest in Kashmir?

Wolfowitz and the other members of the neo-con junto at the Pentagon sit?  After all, these were the geniuses who deployed a smaller than necessary force to Iraq, failed to equip them adequately, did manage to win the war (and kudos to them for this - and to our men and women on the ground who made it happen), but have no clue how to win the peace. How does one lay all of this (oh yeah, and the fact that all of the evidence that 43 crammed down our and the world's throats in his lust to lead the 8th (9th?) crusade was false) at the feet of the Democrats? Hanoi Kerry?  Dipshit Dean?  (well, you got me there).

In any event, every day, while the Administration tries to figure out how to win the peace, thousands of young boys throughout the Middle East, indeed the entire Muslim world, are being taught in Fundamentalist Madrassahs that America is the Great Satan.  Every time a child of the Middle East succumbs to despair and shame at his standard of living vis-a-vis the decadent West, another radical, another potential terrorist is born.  If we do not find a way to alter this flow of events, to help inspire the young men (no slight to the young women, but it is the men we must reach first) and show them a way out of their hopelessness and despair, al-Qaeda's "serious trouble" will be revealed as the irrelevancy that it is.

and of course it's punishable by death, etc.

I'm sure you don't mean that.  But as long as we're playing fast & loose with words, I'm sure you won't be bothered if I point out - with your same ass-extraction logic - that George W. Bush is obviously a faggot and mama's boy.

Same shit, different day. Same old Xiaoming.
What makes you think I give a damn about what you think? You lost all credibility with me long ago.

"What the Klingon says is unimportant, and we do not hear his words."

-- Modified on 1/24/2006 8:02:45 AM

Ouch.  Yeah, same old...

But what's with the guy who wants civility on the Board.  Does it only run one way?

And really, again, do you seriously think the enrichment of the Bush family is the driving force behind our benighted foreign policy?  Despite our diffs, i had you pegged as a much smarter guy than that.

Well, live and learn?

Well, I see your old nemesis funtime69 has reappeared.  Another target for the Doc?

Straight shooting, Xiaoming. No BS or play jokes from me this time.

My attempts at civility didn't seem to be going anywhere. People here seem to thrive on the acrimony. So, ok, I understand. When in Rome...

And to give you a straight answer about Bush and company, no, not really... I was in a really snippy mood at the time I wrote that one.
But it sure does seem to be an interesting coincidence that:

1 - During the first Bush administration, the Bush family wealth (publicly disclosed, anyway) went from 28 million to almost 800 million.
2 - During the 8 years of the Clinton administration, the Bush coffers went from 800 million to a mere 1.1 billion.
3 - so far during the Second Coming of Bush, the family holdings have increased from 1.2 to 11.9 billion. Granted ,this includes their volatile stock holdings in such companies as Carlyle, KBR/Halliburton, Fluor, and the gamut of oil and energy companies in their portfolio. Nonetheless, the numbers are compelling. Espcially the Carlyle connection.

Now, Xiaoming, truth be told, I got sick and tired of all the crap about Israel you and fuckwad69 spew out of your keyboards. Your political leanings make it very clear to me that you and I would wind up on opposite sides of the battlefield. I hope if that ever happens, our respective leaders stop the madness before it gets out of hand. Although on some levels, you and I could be on the same side of an issue, your writing, and especially your perspective on Israel evokes a primal gut instinct within me, one that releases my survival enzymes and puts me into hard core defensive mode.
The difference between you and Funtime69 is simple; I do not believe you are a hatemonger or an anti-Semite in the classic sense (you dont believe the blood libel, do you?), but I do think you've got your head up your ass about the Middle East. All due respect. Funtime69 has made it very clear he is a follower of Hitler. This makes him someone who believes that I, a Jew proud of his heritage and ancestry, do not have the right to live because I am a Jew. He's a Nazi. He wants me dead. How the FUCK do you think I should react? Roll over, show my soft underbelly and be led to slaughter? Not a fucking chance in this or any other Hell.
Never Again.

watch GW videotapes and roar with laughter.

At least he was never sober enough to get it up in the Oval Office.

If you want to talk about legacies, don't forget Nixon:  "I am not a crook."