Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Opinion

Bin Laden still worth capture?

David Salinas
Opinion Columnist 

At the Pentagon on Sept. 17, 2001, with the faint sound of Bon Jovi in the background, President Bush was asked by a reporter if he wanted Osama bin Laden dead, and he replied, "I want justice. And there's an old poster out west, that I recall, that said, ‘Wanted, Dead or Alive.'" Four and a half years and a 60 percent approval rating plummet later, bin Laden has not been found, dead or alive, and is still making tapes to energize his terrorist henchmen.

On Sunday, Arab news network al-Jazeera released a new message from bin Laden. In response to the justified actions taken by the United States and other Western countries to stop recent funding to the Palestinian government since the terrorist organization Hamas took control, bin Laden said, "the opposition to the Hamas government is proof of the crusade against Muslims." In defense of the Bush administration, some have claimed that capturing bin Laden would not make much difference in "the war on terror" because he is only one man and is no longer an effective leader. The thought behind this argument is based more in partisanship than reality, however, especially when you realize how close we came to capturing the mastermind before the attacks of 9/11.

In the mountains of Tora Bora, which lie between the Afghanistan and Pakistan border, the U.S military began strategic bombing on Nov. 30, 2001. According to intelligence officials, bin Laden spent 10 days there at that time, and on Dec. 3rd, gave an address to mujaheddin, or "holy warriors," while they worked their way through tunnels built in the 1980s to avoid the Soviet Union's military. While there were numerous reasons why the United States failed to capture the al-Qaida leader, the actual American soldiers fighting on the ground were not to blame. The biggest mistake made was allowing local Afghan militias to seal off the mountains, some of whom helped al-Qaida members escape. Besides the fact that the Bush administration never had the proper amount of troops in the region, Gen. Tommy Franks was the man in charge, and according to the Washington Post, commanded this particular mission from the war-beaten soil of Tampa Bay, Fla. Being so far away from the area, along with everyone else above the rank of lieutenant colonel, no one had any clue what was going on. It's no wonder that, as so many retired generals have come out and made their criticisms of this administration public, Franks is there to defend this incompetent civilian leadership. He knows he was part of the problem too. 

Over a month ago, John Brennan, former Central Intelligence Agency career man and head of the National Counterterrorism Center and the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, wrote an article discussing just how important catching bin Laden is. Besides the retribution and justice for the victims' families of all the murders he is responsible for throughout the world, the strategic importance of his capture is vital to the war on terror. The longer bin Laden is free to make tapes as he did on Sunday, the more credible and invincible he seems to those in the radical Islamic movement. As Brennan says, it's important to remember that bin Laden's goal is not just terrorism for the sake of terrorism, but "global domination by an Islamic caliphate." While many say "cutting and running" from Iraq would empower the terrorists, everyday that we cut and run from the war against bin Laden, by denying his importance, we help breathe new life into his organization and help give him a George Washington mystique that is spread through radical and backwards madrassahs throughout the Muslim world. 

The biggest failure, which will probably be the legacy of the Bush presidency, will be the war on terrorism and shifting of troops and funding from Afghanistan to Iraq. Every time we see bin Laden's callous grin in file footage and listen to his delusional and deranged tirades will be a testament to how inept George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and company were in defending this country. 

Salinas, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at davidcsalinas@yahoo.com.