Should we be OK with our ally Pakistan harboring Osama bin-Laden from Justice because they are our ally?

Question

In 2005 then director of the CIA Porter Goss said he has an excellent idea where Osama bin-Laden is but we can't get him for politcal reasons.

Now we learn officially what we always knew ,that he is in the tribal zone of northern Pakistan on the Afghan border.

Should we tell Pakistani president Musharaff we don't care if you have nukes or about your domestic political concerns we wan't Osama now or we're comming to get him? Or should we wait until it is politically convenient to bring him to justice?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4110786.stm

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/20/goss.bin.laden/index.html

Please take a moment to read the links before answering,

The Obama controversy regarding a similar question posed to him is based on statements that "actionable intelligence" exists as to the whereabouts of Osama.

My point in posting the articles is to prove that we had similar intelligence in 2005 and the choice was made not to act

Answer 1

Get the b@$t@rd, regardless of his whereabouts, or every life given will have been in vain.

Answer 2

The alliance between Pakistan and the US is very fragile at best... it is very difficult for us to make demands with a nation where the leader could be assassinated and/or deposed by his own people... if this person is ousted there goes our alliance.

It would be extremely messy if we had visible forces camped and fortified in a hostile environment if the alliance was broken unexpected (but very possible), We would be told to leave Pakistan immediately and we can not move an army back in a day. If we decide to ignore the Pakistani demands then we take the chance that a nuclear and strong army on their own terrirtory will wage a full scale and conventiona war against our limited soldiers there; do we have the military strength to carry on a third war in the last ten years? with veterans that have been exposed to continuous tours of duty? limited weapons and supplies stretched thin? Do we take this risk?... the other problem is where are we going to get the troops to enter Pakistan to do the job? We don't just have a unlimited number of troops to effectively get the "job done." That's a huge border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We would have to move troops out of Afghanistan and weaken our holds in the areas we control... The remnants of the Taliban would likely exploit this.

I can guarantee you that we have special forces in Pakistan right now that are not acknowledged... but that would be a small force. We would need a LOT more to be effective.

Answer 3

Bin Laden hasn't been seen(confirmed) since shortly after 9-11. These are guesses as to his whereabouts. I personally believe Bin Laden is buried under tons of rubble in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan and that before the initial 9-11 attacks, he and his followers make dozens of tapes dealing with possible targets all over the world and left instructions to release the appropriate tape should they succeed in an area. That way the myth of Bin Laden will live forever. I mean , seriously, with the technology we have today that can read license plates from space and all the spy satellites we have and no "confirmed" sighting in over 5 years. The man is a ghost and I mean that literally.If we give in to the threat of possible attacks, then they have already won and I , for one, refuse to accept or believe that. Vigilance is one thing but paranoia is something entirely different. How soon we forget about the internment camps of World War 2 just because you were of Japanese or German descent. Paranoia is contagious and when you lead from fear, which is all I've seen the last few years, even bridge collapses cause some to panic. Time to get past it and move on, there always have been a few nutcases, there always will be a few. Use the billions of dollars fighting an idealogy and nationless enemy to rebuild the ailing infrastructure, the border fence, damaged levees, more border guards, better schools, etc. That way we all win. Bin Laden is laughing in his tomb unless we do something about it. I am not saying we can ignore the few nutcases but we can show we are better than them by showing we are better and stronger in spite of them.

Answer 4

Bush has allowed Osama to walk free, when he put Afghanistan on the back burner and invade Iraq, Now the Taliban is reemerging with the tactics learned in !raq, Now the Afghans want the Americans out of their country for the indiscriminate killing of civilians. At the same time Bush, is putting pressure on Pakistan to crack down on the militant movement, the army took the Red Mosque from the militants , now attacks are starting in Pakistan by militants that do not approve of the close relationship to the United States, if the government of Pakistan is topple the Islamic militants will have a nuclear capability. Remember Pakistan has the bomb and missles to .
Our main war is in Afghanistan ,that is the one we should be fighting, But Bush and his yes men are to dumb to realize that.

Answer 5

A very delicate diplomatic situation. Musharaff
might be President but his biggest problem
is keeping the Islamic Extremists calm in his own
country. I think we need to encourage him to use
his military, with use of U.S. surveillance help only
to go after Osama. We need to stand behind him
in every possible way short of committing troops.
If Musharaff should fall from power and the Islamic Radicals take over God help us all because they then would have access to Nuclear weapons.

Answer 6

Who says Pakistan is our ally? The reason we have not caught him yet is because it is part of the balancing act keeping Musharaff in power. He has no control over that region anyway. One this guy is overthrown then we will have a Ilsmaic country with nuclear capability. Oh that should be fun.

Answer 7

"IF" is the word and that's an exceptionally massive "IF" might never take place - what share extra years would desire to we wait ? "IF" we wait long adequate Bin encumbered and Zawahri would basically die of old age. Is that the republican plan for Victory ? "IF we wait long adequate Father-Time will look after issues for us" how very unhappy. we are the worlds surprising great potential in all of recorded historic previous and the terrorists that attacked us on 9-11 would basically die of old age IF we wait that's pathetic

Answer 8

no we should not.

at this point i can only wonder if our current president has ever meant what he said - ever.

he said very clearly that those who harbor terrorists will be treated just like the terrorists.

but we see that he really didn't mean that.

Answer 9

Are they harboring Osama? Do you know something the rest of the world doesn't know?