Glenn Reynolds Is An Idiot

I literally laughed my ass off when I read this post by Glenn Reynolds.

I generally favor a nip-it-in-the-bud strategy — just think how much better off we’d be if Bill Clinton had seized any of his several opportunities to kill or seize Osama bin Laden — but I have to say my confidence in Obama’s ability to carry out anything much bigger than pinpricks is severely limited.

The amount of direct attacks ordered by President George W. Bush is zero. President Bill Clinton ordered the missile strike of the al-Qaeda training site in Zhawar Kili, Afghanistan. One of the goals of the strike was to kill bin Laden. President Barack Obama ordered the Seal Team mission that resulted in the successful killing of bin Laden in Pakistan.

Reynolds is using bin Laden to make the argument that Clinton and Obama were weak on national security. That is hysterical. Perhaps Reynolds needs to be reminded of this quote by George W Bush.

Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not. We haven’t heard from him in a long time. The idea of focusing on one person really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission. Terror is bigger than one person. He’s just a person who’s been marginalized. … I don’t know where he is. I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.

No one should take Reynolds seriously.

Worst Idea Ever: Osama bin Laden Action Figure

The Washington Post reports that the CIA had the horrible and pointless idea of making an Osama bin Laden action figure. The CIA recruited Donald Levine, the late CEO of Hasbro to make the doll.

“It appealed to [Levine] because it had nothing to do with actually hurting someone,” said a person familiar with his decision to get involved. “It was the softer side of the CIA.”

The agency approved the production of the gift items, which were put in backpacks for distribution — blue for boys and pink for girls.

There is nothing a kid wants more than a Satanic looking Osama bin Laden doll.

The stupidity of giving this action figure to children amazes me. Although, it is not certain if any children ever received the action figure. According to CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani, only three dolls were made. One is still housed at the CIA.

Quote of the Day: Dick Cheney Edition

"When we were there, on our watch, we were always ready on 9/11, on the anniversary."

Dick Cheney, former Vice-President

Someone needs to remind Dick Cheney on who was Vice-President on the day of September 11, 2001. Perhaps the President's Daily Brief "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" that was given to President Bush on August 6, 2001. From the PDB.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

The PDB also stated that al-Qaeda operatives have been living in the United States. Condoleezza Rice flat-out lied to the 9/11 Commission about the contents of the PDB.

And I said, at one point, that this was a historical memo, that it was -- it was not based on new threat information. And I said, "No one could have imagined them taking a plane, slamming it into the Pentagon" -- I'm paraphrasing now -- "into the World Trade Center, using planes as a missile."

Dick Cheney is delusional if he thinks the Bush administration was ready on September 11, 2001.

Question of the Night

Could Obama have handled the Afghanistan war better?

I admit, this is a bit of a trick question. During the 2008 election, I felt bad for whoever was handed this shit sandwich after winning in November -- I didn't think there were any good choices then, and I still don't now. Maybe the best choice would have been to pull troops out immediately starting in 2009, but Republicans would have hammered Obama for that choice until Kingdom Come. And while I could criticize Obama for playing politics by setting timetables for troop withdrawls to be completed after the 2012 election, it's not like he had this other, obviously better option to go with.

In fact, any time I try thinking of what Obama is responsible for in Afghanistan, I keep circling back to the Bush Administration. It was Bush who ignored Afghanistan to wage a needless war in Iraq. It was Bush who installed the ineffective Karzai, who has delusions of dictatorship. It was Bush who never built up Afghanistan's defense forces to secure the country before he left office. Bush had six years to do this and he didn't get past square one. Indeed, one has to question how much of a united polity Afghanistan is -- as opposed to a loose federation of tribes who aren't friendly with each other under an arbitrary national border -- yet it was Bush who convinced that we could go "nation building" in Afghanistan. It was also Bush who oversaw a corrupt national rebuilding effort in Afghanistan where the military gave money to contractors, who took a cut and hired other contractors, who took a cut and... Well, you get the picture. Who knows how many pennies were left to build a school after this process, all to have that school destroyed by the Taliban because we never built up Afghan's security forces to protect the country.

And now... Well, Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, and we're in "peace talks" with the brutal Taliban regime our military pledged to defeat; yet cannot defeat because, like bin Laden, the Taliban take refuge in Pakistan. So we're fighting a war we're not sure we can even war in the wrong place.

This is the definition of a "clusterfuck". Obama's crime lies in continuing the Afghanistan war, and he didn't have much choice in the matter when he entered office.

So the blame for this mess lies solely with former President Bush. This $429 billion mistake, funded after Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001, must be considered a major reason for why our country is broke and discussing austerity measures right now. Indeed, this is how Bush's shameful legacy will effect us for years to come.

Torture Still Doesn't Work

This is part of the letter that CIA director Leon Panetta sent to Sen. John McCain. Panetta told McCain that torture was not the deciding factor in the gathering of intelligence of Osama bin Laden's location. Panetta told McCain that some detainees tortured did give intelligence relating to bin Laden's whereabouts. Other detainees that were tortured repeatedly lied to interogators. Panetta concluded that torture did not play a role in providing Osama bin Laden's whereabouts.

"Nearly 10 years of intensive intelligence work led the CIA to conclude that Bin Ladin was likely hiding at the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There was no one 'essential and indispensible' [sic] key piece of information that led us to this conclusion. Rather, the intelligence picture was developed via painstaking collection and analysis. Multiple streams of intelligence — including from detainees, but also from multiple other sources — led CIA analysts to conclude that Bin Ladin was at this compound. Some of the detainees who provided useful information about the facilitator/courier's role had been subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. Whether those techniques were the 'only timely and effective way' to obtain such information is a matter of debate and cannot be established definitively. What is definitive is that that information was only a part of multiple streams of intelligence that led us to Bin Ladin.

"Let me further point out that we first learned about the facilitator/courier's nom de guerre from a detainee not in CIA custody in 2002. It is also important to note that some detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques attempted to provide false or misleading information about the facilitator/courier. These attempts to falsify the facilitator/courier's role were alerting.

"In the end, no detainee in CIA custody revealed the facilitator/courier's full true name or specific whereabouts. This information was discovered through other intelligence means."

The Hangover

The killing of Osama bin Laden reminds me of an all night drinking bender, the kind one experiences during their college years before growing up and learning a little moderation. The kind of bender where it's 5:00am and you're still bouncing around like an idiot, looking for some cheap tequila to drink straight.

After all that drunken jubilation, one must fall asleep. While your bender felt fantastic during the night of, the morning... Errr, that's a little less fantastic. In fact, you feel like ass -- not a donkey, but like your actual buttocks. And just when you think nothing could make you feel worse, you look in your wallet and notice that, uh, there's a whole bunch of money missing because you, uh, kinda just, uh, drank it last night.

Determining the cost of the 9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is difficult. The "Cost of War" website -- which is liberal, I imagine, so figures may be skewed upwards -- places the total cost just under $1.2 trillion. Juggle that astronomical figure in your mind for a couple seconds. $1.2 TRILLION for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and our greatest victory during the 9/11 wars was accomplished on Sunday when we killed Osama bin Laden, after finding him in a country that we're not even at war with.

This is being heralded as some sort of triumph? We effectively placed bin Laden under house arrest for years, making him ineffectual, but then after we finally kill a has-been, useless sack of crap "leader" we're supposed to believe it's some sort of victory? This is what my $1.2 trillion in taxes paid for?

Meanwhile, the highest levels of American government discuss austerity measures we must go through to fix our ballooning debt -- which was around $8 trillion before 9/11, but has now climbed to $14 trillion. In the blame game, the Left points their finger at corporations, while the Right points at their finger at the poor. In the meantime, needed repairs to American infrastructure -- which I could have sworn that our current president promised to create jobs for repairs on that infrastructure -- haven't come through. Problems of improving America's public education still aren't close to being solved. American jobs are only slowly coming back, but not quick enough to blunt our government's steps towards austerity...

But, hey, we got'em! It only took us $1.2 trillion fighting wars in two countries he wasn't even in, but we got'em! And that just equivocates everything, doesn't it?

Now for Americans reading this, please don't misunderstand me: I think Osama bin Laden is a pile of crap who asked for it. I have reservations against outright killing somebody -- and I don't condone murder -- but if anybody had it coming, it was this jerk. Also, I can't imagine a police squad trying to walk into bin Laden's compound and saying "Uh, sir, you're like under arrest, and stuff" without getting their heads blown off. When bin Laden was found, there was a high probability he would need to be killed. I accept that.

But to wage outrageously expensive wars in two countries just to find this guy -- who wasn't in either of those countries! -- then still not know what a definitive exit strategy is for the 9/11 wars... Well, welcome to The Hangover. America got depressed, went on an all-night drinking marathon, had the best conclusion ever to that night, and now we're about to wake up and wonder what, exactly, did we just blow our rent money on?

Unfortunately, the instead of a headache, this hangover is evidenced by austerity and a stalled economy. It looks like bin Laden came close to achieving one of his goals against America -- to drive us into bankruptcy.

So to all the Senators and Representatives who either voted to goto war in Afghanistan and Iraq -- or stood by and let war policy run them over -- good going. Top notch work, no, really. It's all sooooooo enviable. But in the meantime, could you also ensure that college graduates like myself can find decent paying jobs where we can actually afford a house?

Perhaps you'll get to this after your hangover has passed and you've finally grown up -- but who knows when that will be.

Blast From the Past: Sen Obama On Going After OBL

Remember when John McCain and Hillary Clinton said Barack Obama was foolish for saying he would order action against Osama bin Laden. Regardless of whether or not he had the permission of the Pakistan government. McCain attempted to portray Obama as experience since McCain was so right about Iraq.

Google Maps View of Osama Bin Laden's Hideout.

View Larger Map

OSL's lair was a big place. The Pakistani government wasn't looking very hard for this place.

Saad bin Laden May Be Dead

The Associated Press is reporting Osama bin Laden's son Saad may be dead.

Saad bin Laden, a son of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, may have been killed in a U.S. airstrike, U.S. officials said Thursday. The son was likely killed in Pakistan in the last several months, approximately in late spring, said a counterterrorism official, one of three Obama administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.

Though many in the intelligence community believe he is dead, they can't be 100 percent certain because no body or DNA evidence was recovered to prove it, one official said.

The Washington Post confirmed the story of Saad's possible death through their own source.

"There are some indications that he may be dead, but it's not 100 percent certain," said a Washington-based counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of CIA operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. He declined to say precisely when and where the strike occurred.

Saad served as a messanger between his father and the Quds Force of Iran. al-Qaeda used verbal messangers to avoid communication through cell phones and the internet. The Quds Force helps train and equip Islamic terrorists. Saad lived in Iran and Pakistan after the United States invasion of Afghanistan.

Intelligence official will never be completely certain if Saad is dead. The ability to find a body in Taliban-controlled Pakistan makes the task all but impossible.

The Maverick's Secret

John McCain has a secret plan for capturing Osama bin Laden. It's so secret the Maverick won't even share it with the White House. If that doesn't tell you how unserious McCain is on national security then nothing will.

So Washington Wire was wondering, what does McCain know that President Bush and the Pentagon don’t about how to sweep up America’s most elusive enemy.

“One thing I will not do is telegraph my punches. Osama bin Laden will be the last to know,” he said today while riding on the back of his bus between Florida events. In other words: he’s not telling. Why not share his strategy with the current occupant of the White House? “Because I have my own ideas and it would require implementation of certain policies and procedures that only as the president of the United States can be taken.”

Apparently, McCain's plan is so secret, McCain may not even know how he plans to capture bin Laden.

Joel Award: Tony Snow

The Joel Award is named after a less than famous blogger who made a horrible statement. He proceeded to make contradictory statement. This is commonly known as flip-flopping.

This March 13, 2002 quote from President George W. Bush came from the liberal media service known as the White House website. He stressed that he wasn't stressed about finding Osama bin Laden.

And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run.

Tony Snow made this comment on the sixth aniversary on the 9-11 attacks.

Well, we're going to find him. I mean, we -- (Bush) said all along we're going to find him.

There is two possibilities: the Press Secretary doesn't read his boss's comments on the White House website or he is delusional. The latter sounds about right. Snow is guaranteeing the administration will find the FBI's most wanted man before they leave office. Does Snow have delusions he is Joe Namath?

Fred Fumbles

Fred Thompson is stumbing out of the gate. He made the same mistake Bush did of downplaying Osama bin Laden.

“Bin Laden being in the mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan is not as important as there are probably al-Qaida operatives inside the United States of America,” Thompson said.

Later in the day, after his remarks drew criticism from Democratic contenders, Thompson took a different tone.

“Apparently Osama bin Laden has crawled out of his cave long enough to send another video and he is getting a lot of attention,” he said at a rally in Mason City. “He ought to be caught and killed.”

Thompson has another problem. No one knows what the hell he is trying to say.

Before a small crowd here in a downtown convention center, for instance, Mr. Thompson often appeared to ramble. When asked “what society’s position should be on deviants, including homosexuality,” he gave a somewhat meandering answer that included, “I think that we should not have discrimination, but that we should not set aside categories to give special set-aside treatments for, and treatments to.”

He did not use the word “homosexuality” in the answer, continuing:

“You never know the full story behind someone. You can’t set aside every individual citizen and look into their background and pass judgment on them, nor should you. That’s not the federal government’s job.”

I'm glad that his message is more tolerant then other Republicans on the campaign trail. It just isn't polished. He sounds like he's not ready for the national spotlight.

Thompson is the Wesley Clark of 2008. A candidate that looks great of paper, with a vocal group of supporters. Both started too late and do not have extensive campaign experience. I'm just waiting for Thompson to switch to argyle sweaters.

Update: Rachel Meadow pointed something that defuses all my criticism of Thompson. He is a sexy mofo. That's all that matters.