Whatever happened to…

Henry Schuster gives us this CNN column entitled “Where’s Osama?” The simple answer for OBL’s reticence the last few months could have several explanations. One suggestion is that Al Qaeda hasn’t had any thing it can point to as a ‘success” in the last few months. Another is he simply has nothing to say. Schuster opines in general that the no news might be good news.
As this compendium from a case brought to trial in 2001 in new York entitled United States v. Osama bin Laden, nothing could be further from the truth. Al Qaeda is.. get this… patient. It takes years and years, works through multiple simultaneous plans, and moves its important people around on fake identity documents.
The schmucks who will sacrifice themselves for the cause– they use their own names. Legitimate businesses intertwined with the terrorist organization, a loose configuration, and the best intelligence we had provided via the much maligned law enforcement mechanism.
In short: no one can ever be sure what OBL or the AQ bastards are up to at any given moment. The only thing we know for certain is how remarkably little we know… other than just how useful a bogeyman OBL is for the current American government (and, possibly, the UK government… though we’ll see later this week…) to have out there. Comforting, no?