"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."- G.W. Bush, 9/13/01

Exactly six moths later: "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." "I am truly not that concerned about him."- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02


If there is any one thing that could stay or even resurrect Bush's abysmal descent into the depths of political ignominy it would be to kill or capture bin Laden. We know it and the world knows it. So why hasn't it happened?

There must be a reason. It is probable that bin Laden is in Pakistan where Pervez Musharraf is president. Where two years ago, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is revered in Pakistan as the father of the country's nuclear bomb, appeared on a state-run television network in Islamabad and confessed that he had been solely responsible for operating an international black market in nuclear-weapons materials.

A. Q. Khan can bring a plain piece of paper and show me how to get it done—the countries, people, and telephone numbers. 'This is the guy in Russia who can get you small quantities of enriched uranium. You in Malaysia will manufacture the stuff. Here's who will miniaturize the warhead. And then go to North Korea and get the damn missile.' ” He added, “This is not a few scientists pocketing money and getting rich. It's a state policy.”

These are people who've done nothing but covert operations: One, screw India. Two, deceive America. Three, expand Pakistan's influence in the Islamic community. And, four, continue to spread nuclear technology.” He paused. “Musharraf is trying to put out the fire with the help of the people who started the fire,” he said.“Much of this has been known for decades to the American intelligence community,” Haqqani added. “Sometimes you know things and don't want to do anything about it. Americans need to know that your government is not only downplaying this but covering it up. You go to bed with our I.S.I. They know how to suck up to you. You let us get away with everything. Why can't you be more honest? There's no harm in telling us the truth—'Look, you're an ally but a very disturbing ally.' You have to nip some of these things in the bud.”The former senior American intelligence official was equally blunt. He told me, “Khan was willing to sell blueprints, centrifuges, and the latest in weaponry. He was the worst nuclear-arms proliferator in the world and he's pardoned—with not a squeak from the White House.”

Robert Gallucci, a former United Nations weapons inspector who is now dean of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, calls A. Q. Khan “the Johnny Appleseed” of the nuclear-arms race. Gallucci, who is a consultant to the C.I.A. on proliferation issues, told me, “Bad as it is with Iran, North Korea, and Libya having nuclear-weapons material, the worst part is that they could transfer it to a non-state group. That's the biggest concern, and the scariest thing about all this—that Pakistan could work with the worst terrorist groups on earth to build nuclear weapons. There's nothing more important than stopping terrorist groups from getting nuclear weapons. The most dangerous country for the United States now is Pakistan, and second is Iran.” Gallucci went on, “We haven't been this vulnerable since the British burned Washington in 1814.”

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040308fa_fact

President Musharraf has survived several assassination attempts. If bin Laden can operate with impunity in a country with nuclear weapons and/or gain access to these weapons we are in big trouble. This all brings me back to the question of why Bush is “not that interested in him'?

Does bin Laden or his family have something on Bush? Was a bin Laden the undisclosed person who bought Bush's Harkin stock? Why is the whole Bush family is so locked up with the Saudis? Maybe we will never know his real reasons for focusing on Sadam and not Bin Laden then or now, but it's probably safe to guess it had something to do with the Saudis. But one thing we know for sure is that Bush is a liar, a war mongering torturer and his neocon agenda takes precedent over the lives of Americans.