Repost as OP: All this talk of "right to retaliate" and "insurgents" is just legalistic twaddle

[brett_jv]

85. Actually, the Taliban OFFERED to turn over Bin Laden ...

They just asked us to provide the evidence that he was guilty, and that upon our doing so to their satisfaction, they would send him to a 'neutral' third-party country for trial.

Now they might've been full of shit of course, but we didn't even give 'em a chance to make good. The plans to invade Afghanistan were on Bush's desk on Sept 9, 2001. And the Iraq war plans were also in the draft phase at that point, I'm quite sure. The best evidence for this is the leaks of Cheney's early 2001 meeting to draft the (secret) US Energy Policy ... the one where they had out maps of Iraq, deciding which big oil company was going to get which of Iraq's prized oil fields.

'So We Attacked' ... as if that was the ONLY option available to us. Not only were there OTHER options, there were also BETTER options, clearly ... given that he ended up fleeing and staying on the lamb for 11 years or so after we chose this option, it's pretty clear it wasn't a very good one. That's not to mention the co$t in lives and treasure, and the long-term obligations we've created for ourselves as a result.

Reality is that BushCo and his MiC cohorts WANTED OBL alive ... he was the gift that kept giving for him and his cronies. In fact, it's said he worked for the CIA at one point, and I'd not be surprised to discover that he did so until the day of his death (although I'm frankly not entirely convinced that his death actually occurred the way we were told it did, but that's a debate for another time and place).