No, no, no. We don't have any idea where bin Laden is.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Now that the report has been aired that bin Laden is "boxed in", U.S. officials are wisely denying it.

Wisely, I say, because if they do have him where they can take him, they certainly don't want it to appear as though they are waiting for something as self-serving as an election promo.

Although somebody's been bragging that it's a certainty we'll capture him this year, U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty "distanced himself from recent remarks he made that he was 'sure' bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would be caught this year, reverting to past U.S. statements that the 'war on terror' was not only about catching individuals."  article

Uh-huh.

But just wait till we "capture" him. The prize.

I believe the report I linked in the post yesterday said that Omar was with bin Laden - if it didn't, then it was another article. Odd, isn't it, that Hilferty has previously expressed certainty of the capture of both men this year, then a report comes out that both of them are "boxed in" and the military are simply waiting for the word to bring them in, and now Hilferty is backtracking on his earlier statement? What was that Juan Cole said? "Their premise is that the American public is populated by fools..."

I am aware of a number of thick-skulled flag-wavers who will be hooting and hollering and talking more ass-kicking crap when it happens. But I wonder if the value will last any longer than the Saddam "capture". What is very important is that they time it precisely. The spike in Double-face's approval ratings at the capture of Hussein didn't last very long, and there are other issues to consider now. Rove's got his work cut out for him. Trying to get this "capture" timed just right. There's going to be some pretty fancy footwork called for as we get down to the November wire. The White House has an awful lot of balls in the air.

I guess that was my segue into the issue of chickenhawks and chickenshit. I'm not going there.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.