allow me to don my tin foil hat...

[unblock]

the circumstances of bin laden's "hiding" for 5-6 years right next to "the pakistani equivalent of west point" has raised the suspicion that some elements of the pakistani government/military/intelligence community knew exactly where he was and enabled him to survive there in comfort. well, until quite recently, of course.

now, it seems to me that there was a time when shrub and the gang was quite obsessed with bin laden. then they lost him at tora bora, and their attentions were diverted, and after a while, the didn't seem to care that much about him. shrub himself said bin laden had been "marginalized" and he "didn't think about him all that much". it's like they didn't care any more. no, not "like". they DIDN'T care any more.

now, we all thought at the time that this was simply the republican way of acknowledging that they were incompetent and were never going to find him, and therefore, they wanted to lower expectations because they knew they couldn't deliver on any further boasts to catch him "dead or alive".

<:tinfoilhat:>
but if some elements in the pakistani power structure knew bin laden's whereabouts, is it so far-fetched that some in the republican power structure knew as well?

could it be that shrub/cheney/rice/etc. ALSO knew he was under the safe protection of the pakistanis and that there was some agreement to let him live out his days there? in exchange for what, i don't know, but hey, this is a tin foil hat theory, so i don't need it to add up completely.
</:tinfoilhat:>

thoughts?

[dionysus]

1. well. not tin foily to think elements of ISI knew he was there. doubt they'd have told shrub though.

[unblock]

5. i'm not thinking shrub and the gang knew EXACTLY where he was

simply that they knew where to look but had agreed not to.

[dionysus]

7. for *, i lean towards gross incompetance. if anyone knew it was cheney's crew.

i think they insulated chimpy from the heavy shit.

[Hannah Bell]

19. sure, they insulated the guy whose family has been involved in top levels of government &

finance for over 100 years, whose father was president & cia director, whose brother runs florida, whose uncle ran riggs bank, who has numerous cousins running similar concerns, & whose other brothers have their hands in all sorts of financial pies.

interesting theory. like bush doesn't have the means to find out whatever he likes.

[EFerrari]

2. I'm thinking that if the Paks kept tabs on bin Laden

up to and including allowing him to stay in that house, they still did better and more than BushCheney. He was contained and ultimately, an easy target.

[unblock]

4. well my tinfoilhat theory is that bush/cheney were worse than negligently incompetent

my theory is that there was some deal to give up the hunt, perhaps because there was something greater at stake for them in dealing with parts of the pakistani power structure.

[EFerrari]

13. Bin Laden was a big pain in the ass.

BushCo would have needed to pay off Pakistan or someone(s) there to watch him. Pakistan has enough on their hands with Kashmir, India, their own insurgents, our cross border bombing. It's not like Bin Laden could do anything for Pakistan except maybe help to recruit fighters for Kashmir.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Your theory goes along with my sister's theory

She was mentioning similar circumstances. She mentioned that with all the papers, computers and disks seized from the OBL compound, she feels our government may come up with documents implicating Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and that they knew OBL was hiding out in Pakistan but (like you said) had some agreement with the Pakistani intelligence to allow OBL to remain there.

[99th_Monkey]

17. Bingo!

This really could become a very tell-tale tendril of the Bush Crime Family's nefarious activities and associations re: "The War on Terrah"

[unblock]

24. tell-tale terrah tendril

almost poetic!

[PsychGrad]

6. I've thought it too...

I just can't seem to grasp that he was there without anyone knowing. And it wouldn't surprise me one tiny iota to find out that shrub was absolutely aware of it. I am just waiting to see the pictures of shrub and obl IN the compound together... perhaps just a matter of time. Oil folks stick together, at least from what I've seen.

[Vehl]

8. I dont think Osama was even in Tora Bora..he probably got Airlifted during the Kunduz Airlift(2001)

For more info regarding the Kunduz Airlift (in which literally thousands of ISI/Taliban/AQ personnel were airlifted by Pakistan from the besieged town of Kunduz ), check my thread out. No wonder the Allied forces surrounding the town, watching on helplessly as the prey escaped termed it the "Airlift of Evil".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1059758

[xfundy]

9. OBL was an asset to the repigs.

They didn't want him gone because he was a major justification for the fear factor they needed to distract the US so they could dismantle America and all it stood for.

[Hannah Bell]

21. so why are we still expanding the war on terror, 2+ years after bush?

[eridani]

23. +1

Better a live boogeyman than a dead or captured terrorist.

[Old and In the Way]

10. In exchange for, 20+ billion to help fight the GWOT?

My suspicions about the Bush-bin Laden began when the bin Laden family got a special escort out of the US while all commercial flights were grounded. If OBL was the mastermind behind 9/11, why didn't Bush/Cheney round the family up and put them in protective custody...than use them to get OBL to give himself up? And why did we give AQ a free pass out of Tora Bora? The Bush-bin Ladens have been doing business for 40 years, so I wouldn't be stunned to find out there was a quid (lots of quid) pro quo to hold him under house arrest. No OBL means we need to continue the GWOT going....taxpayers get to keep the MIC in profits while we get $4.00 gas. Win-win....for the friends of Bush.

[DJ13]

11. Maybe the government protected him in exchange for his supporters setting up the ...

... assassination of Bhutto in 2007?

[Demonaut]

12. we did need a reason to feed the war machine..needed a boogie man, I agree with you

I hope these documents will shed light but even if they do I'm sure we'll never know

[grahamhgreen]

14. Yes. It is possible. Check my post -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1067382


Condi's acting strange

[99th_Monkey]

15. LIke I've been asking (and posting it on DU) for a week now

I wonder if Obamaa cleared the "OBL Kill" ahead of time, with the Bush Crime Family?

After all, the Bushes and Bin Ladens are "family" you know.

[Tripod]

16. My guess....

Most of them have known where he was... Now we killed him. Good!

[dkf]

18. Why can't it be that Bush realized this was the price we pay to Pakistan?

It was protection money to let us secure their nukes. How else do you get us to choke up billions to Pakistan?

[Puzzler]

20. If they knew where he was, they would have "found" him in time for the 04 or 08 elections

[Hannah Bell]

22. not if they didn't want him found.

[felix_numinous]

25. A sudden change in message

--from OBL being most wanted to--'I'm not concerned about him'--didn't even need a tinfoil hat to smell something fishy. No explanation, just the Jedi trick, a wave of the hand and we're supposed to just go along with the new talking points.

BTW I think tinfoil hat is the only acceptable way to talk about instinct--many of us have instinctually known what was going on all along, and now the facts are rolling in. :tinfoilhat: