Cenk Uygur: Osama's still being forgotten by this administration!

Posted by Joshua Holland at 8:56 AM on February 27, 2007.

General agrees with Bush: catching bin Laden is no biggie...

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In this video, our friend Cenk Uygur goes ballistic over the latest pronouncement -- this time from the Pentagon -- that it's no problem that Osama bin Laden is still running around on the loose (even while experts warn of an Al Qaeda "resurgence").

Cenk points out that there's a a pattern here:

Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Army Chief of Staff, on capturing Osama bin Laden:

"I don't know that it's all that important, frankly."

Dick Cheney downplaying the importance of capturing Osama bin Laden:
"He's not the only source of the problem, obviously. . . . If you killed him tomorrow, you'd still have a problem with al-Qaeda."
President Bush on how important he thinks capturing Osama bin Laden is:
"So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him. ... And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him."
"Deep in my heart I know the man's on the run, if he's alive at all...I just don't spend much time on it, really, to be honest with you."
President Bush also shut down the CIA operation trying to capture Osama bin Laden. And let him escape in Tora Bora.

I can't speak for Cenk, but what pisses me off about this is not the statements themselves -- I think you can make a fair argument that al Qaeda has become such a diffuse, decentralized organization that bin Laden has little more than symbolic value at this point. What bothers me is the double standard: while most pundits are giving these guys a pass on an assertion that would no piss off most Americans, can you just imagine the political shit-storm that would happen if a Democrat like John Kerry said the same thing?

Actually, you don't have to use your imagination; it would be just like the reaction to Kerry's statement that we'll never be able to eliminate terrorism completely, and the goal of U.S. policy should be to reduce it to "a nuisance." It would be like that, times ten.

Tagged as: bin laden

Joshua Holland is a staff writer at Alternet and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer.

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AMEN [Report this comment] Posted by: bob t on Feb 27, 2007 9:16 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Josh, Amen and well said. Bin Laden should have been caught back in December of 2001 when, as I recall, our CIA and Special Forces had him trapped. Bush/Rumsfeld refused to allow that to take place. This all smells like a rat somewhere in the woodpile, or rather in the WH. The Bush Family and the Saudi Family are in cahoots on all of this mess. Total chaos and meltdown in the ME seems close at hand. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] right wing double standard [Report this comment] Posted by: bookie on Feb 27, 2007 9:29 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] great video. I agree that if a democrat made these kinds of statements they would be hounded unmercifully by the press and the right wingnuts. Yet there won't be any coverage in the major press about what Shoomaker, Cheney, and Bush said. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Tora Bora [Report this comment] Posted by: dover23 on Feb 27, 2007 10:44 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Lot's of disturbing crap went down that might have been related to Tora Bora coincidences? [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Honestly [Report this comment] Posted by: Boomerang on Feb 27, 2007 12:04 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] We haven't heard a word from OBL in over a year. Meanwhile, Ayman al-Zawahiri puts out a new propaganda video nearly every month. I'd be willing to go out on a limb and say that capturing or killing bin Laden can go on the back burner for now while we try to get al-Zawahiri. I think he's much more important at the moment, and no doubt he could lead us to bin Laden. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » Seriously... do you think that him releasing tapes for you to see... Posted by: JoshuaLudd Simply Put... [Report this comment] Posted by: sphoenix on Feb 27, 2007 12:05 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] The reason this administration stopped looking for Osama...is that he is still working for the CIA or some other branch of black government. It's really the only logical explanation of the failure to capture him after all this time. See Sy Hersh's latest articles. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Family [Report this comment] Posted by: ankhet on Feb 27, 2007 12:27 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] OBL is not in the cross-hairs because he's Family. He's got his reward and his safe haven, and Cheney's inner cabal will make sure he's safe till it all blows over. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Isn't it past the time to stop scapegoating Osama? [Report this comment] Posted by: ErHoff on Feb 27, 2007 7:36 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Isn't it past the time to stop scapegoating Osama (Usama) bin Laden and al-Qaeda when talking about the attacks of September 11, 2001. Why might someone think he caused 9-11? Because the same liars that brought you Iraq, said so? Was any evidence produced? Was there ever a real investigation of the attacks of 9-11? No. Philip Zelikow, who worked for the White House, controlled the 9-11 Whitewash Commission. Don't the victims and their families deserve a proper investigation? Get the Federal cover up out of the picture, and let NYPD and the NYFD be heard. Investigate murder. Osama bin Laden never claimed he was behind 9-11. American media ran a poorly forged flix of a heavyset black man writing with his right hand, Osama is left handed and thin. On September 16 2001 Osama bin Laden did make a public comment that he did not support the attack of so many innocent lives. Most of the world had access to that, while American networks failed to disclose it. Lets not scapegoat bin Laden in an irresponsible manner. Charge him for the embassy bombings and the USS Cole, but there is no evidence for the 9-11 attacks. It is past the time to impeach the real terrorists, and begin seizing their ill gotten gains. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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» Seriously... do you think that him releasing tapes for you to see... Posted by: JoshuaLudd