CNN.com - CIA chief has 'excellent idea' where bin Laden is - Jun 20, 2005

"That is a question that goes far deeper than you know," he said. "In the chain that you need to successfully wrap up the war on terror, we have some weak links. And I find that until we strengthen all the links, we're probably not going to be able to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice.
"We are making very good progress on it. But when you go to the very difficult question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you're dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play. Asked whether that meant he knew where bin Laden is, Goss responded: "I have an excellent idea where he is. What's the next question?" Goss did not say where he thinks bin Laden is, nor did he name the country or countries he was referring to when he spoke of sanctuaries. But intelligence experts have long said they believed bin Laden was probably hiding in the rugged mountainous border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
-CNN.com

So if he knows where he is and our military is in Afghanistan and Pakistan is supposedly our ally, what's the deal? Why are we in Iraq at all if there are no connections between Iraq and Bin Laden? We should be pursuing Bin Laden with all of our forces and resources. Granted- our military is capable of maintaining a two theater war, but it's a symbolic gesture. As long as Bin Laden walks free, his very survival mocks American power. With all of our military might it takes us three years and we still don't have him. So what does that tell the rest of the world? We need to take him on. His capture has become to the war on terror what Stalingrad was to German offensive on Russia(and I'm not comparing us to Nazis I'm just using it as an example of the symbolic nature of certain targets. So basically, we should punish those who attacked us without injuring innocents unneccesarily. Focus our efforts on the symbolic targets and illustrate to the world that we are in fact powerful, while being compassionate of those residents of the Arab world caught up in the Islamists' deceptions.


"The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline," Cheney said. "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."

On Sunday, U.S. Sen. John McCain said he disagreed with Cheney's assessment that the insurgency was in its 'last throes' and called on the Bush administration to stop telling Americans victory is around the corner.
'What I think we should do,' the Arizona Republican told NBC's 'Meet the Press,' 'is wait until we achieve the successes, then celebrate them, rather than predict them. Because too often that prediction is not proven to be true.' -CNN.com