The American commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan says he expects to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice by the end of this year.
Lieutenant-General David Barno said dealing with Bin Laden and ex-Taleban leader Mullah Omar was a top priority.
"The sands in the hourglass of all of the al-Qaeda senior leadership is running out," said General Barno.
Do we have the will and the wherewithal to invade Syria or Iran if necessary to accomplish this goal? If Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar suddenly pops up quite openly in Damascus or Tehran, to paraphrase the immortal words of Sean Connery as Jimmy Malone in The Untouchables:
“What are we prepared to do about it?”
And what if it’s Beijing instead?
The Chinese would probably just "take care of him" -- as in, making sure he takes a nice, long, comfy dirt nap in an unmarked grave. They want trouble with the Muslims in their western provinces the way we want chiggers in our underpants. However, this chucklesome scenario will probably never take place, since I tend to think his DNA still decorates the undersides of some well-buried rocks in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at 10:51 PMI refer, of course, to Bin Laden, not the good commander -- or Jimmy Malone.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at 10:52 PMLike you, I find Gen. Barno's statement a bit surprising.
Still, he's our top guy in Afghanistan, so I'm hoping he knows what he's talking about.