3 Thoughts

This weekend I shared a motel room with my mother as we were visiting my brother at college. Surprisingly (she's quite liberal), when she turned on the tv, she put on Fox News. I wasn't paying much attention (I was reading), but a particular tagline, promising exciting news, caught my attention.

A woman announced that they would have the Prime Minister of Pakistan in an exclusive interview and she would find out if he secretly knew where bin Laden was.

First thought: If he did know, he wouldn't admit it (and that statement proves that Fox News anchors can make moronically inane statements to try to get viewers as well as any other news program or radio station).

Second thought: I recognize that I know nothing about the Prime Minister of Pakistan and where he really, in his heart of hearts, stands on terrorism. Doesn't matter. He couldn't possibly know where bin Laden was. Al Qaeda and bin Laden would never risk telling him as they know he has contact with the US and thus he, or his staff, could be compromised (from their perspective, of course).

Third thought (while he was speaking): On the subject of whether capturing bin Laden was a necessary act to provide safety in the War on Terror or was it a purely symbolic gesture, he gave the clearest response I have heard to date.

He said that capturing bin Laden was an obviously symbolic gesture. It would likely dishearten a fair number of terrorists as well as removing him from a position of being able to mastermind any future attacks and, in those ways, make us somewhat safer. However, we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that capturing bin Laden would end our problems with terrorism. Even ignoring the fact that his capture or death could turn him into a martyr that could inspire as well as dishearten his followers, he is not running the show right now. He isn't a vital part of any of the current attack; he is already disconnected from the scene, moving him from a hideout to a jail would have no impact on the abilities of terrorists com organize and carry out attacks.