CBS: CIA Insider Says Osama Hunt Flawed

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/10/terror/main635038.shtml

An experienced CIA counterterrorism officer tells Congress the agency is still failing to adequately staff the hunt for Osama bin Laden, a newspaper reports.

The officer claims that the headquarters unit assigned to bin Laden has fewer experienced case officers now than on Sept. 11, 2001.

The New York Times reports Michael Scheuer, who recently penned a book critical of the CIA's counterterrorism efforts called "Imperial Hubris," lodged his complaints in a letter to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

A 22-year CIA veteran who ran the bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999, Scheuer also claims that the CIA is rotating inexperienced officers into the bin Laden unit for short stints of 60 to 90 days.

[yardwork]

1. What is shrub-boy up to?

It's been clear from day one that the BFEE has no intention of finding OBL. Does this mean that they already have him and will parade him in chains on November 1?

Or is it because OBL is the foreign policy equivalent of Roe v Wade to the Republican Party - a perfect wedge issue that they will never, ever give up by actually doing something about?

Just as the Republicans have never and probably will never challenge Roe v Wade for the simple reason that it would lose them their core constituency, I suspect that the Rethugs will never "find" OBL.

[CarolynEC]

2. I'm about as far from a CIA 'insider' as you can possibly be...

... and I could have told you the Bush administration has bungled the effort to capture bin Laden.