Bush:"I wish we had brought Osama bin Laden to justice, sure. But he's not leading a lot of parades"

[sabra]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/BushLegacy/Story?id=6460837&page=4

<snip>

Raddatz: Did you ever imagine your presidency ending, and I know it's not over yet, without capturing Osama bin Laden?

Bush: We have done great damage to al Qaeda. We have denied them safe havens, a safe haven in Iraq. We are pursuing them in Pakistan. We have got them on the run. We're keeping the pressure on them full time. And do I wish we had brought Osama bin Laden to justice, sure. But he's not leading a lot of parades these days.

[unhappycamper]

1. Neither is dickwad. n/t

[endarkenment]

2. shoe now

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. !

:thumbsup:

[tyne]

5. That response

deserves a cowboy boot.

[Democrats_win]

4. Yeah, but bush and bin laden have both given us a lot of funerals.

Heck with their parades.

[JHB]

6. Raddatz (I wish): Did he ever lead parades?

Bush: umm... no.

Raddatz (I wish): So how do you know you're keeping pressure on him?

[lutefisk]

12. Bush: You gotta understand, Martha, I was speaking semaphorically, that I said. (n/t)

[bigtree]

7. I guess he forgot about all of those bin-Laden quotes he was throwing around

. . . in his fear campaigns preceding elections

[The_Casual_Observer]

No, he's simply led jr around by the nose for the last 8 years instead.

[Deja Q]

8. What happened between 2002 and now that he wants Osama?

In 2002, exactly 6 months after saying he'd do all to bring the perps to justice he said Osama no longer interested him.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200410140007

Q: But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

BUSH: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

There's some egg on my face too; until reading that excerpt I hadn't known the full statement containing relevant context. Without the context (knowing he's on the run and not in control of Afghanistan and the Taliban), a lot of other inferences can be made.

If you ask me, there is a valid continuity between his statement of 2002 and now, in that Osama isn't running anything major (or that we know about). Still, given what OBL was behind, it still made sense to keep going after him as a high priority despite the fact he ended up going on the run. OBL needs that justice handed to him and by any means necessary and close his case for good.

[Solly Mack]

9. America should deny the Bush administration safe haven...alas

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Man, we've sure had 'them on the run' for a lot of years. Also like that 'we are pursuing

them in Pakistan." You mean, Pakistan, our 'best ally in the war on terror'? Who is 'we', the US? NATO? Who is it that is violating the borders of Pakistan?

[Alter Ego]

11. Whatever happened to "Dead or alive! Smoke 'em out!"?

[MineralMan]

13. Same thing that happened to "Mission Accomplished."