Gen McChrystal: Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat

[Andronex]

Source: BBC News

The top US commander in Afghanistan has said al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama Bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the US Congress, Gen Stanley McChrystal said Bin Laden had become an "iconic figure".

He said President Barack Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant success was possible. But he said the mission was "undeniably difficult" and the next 18 months would be crucial.
"I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed," said Gen McChrystal of Bin Laden.

"I believe he is an iconic figure at this point, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organisation across the world," he said. The general said that killing or capturing Bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but that the movement could not be eradicated while Bin Laden remained at large.

The militant leader is believed to be living in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8402138.stm

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Gen Stanley McChrystal said Bin Laden had become an "iconic figure".

Must be a typo, he probably said a "ironic figure"

[aquart]

1. So we have to stay there till the dead bin Ladin is deader?

McChrystal is a piece of work. Well, he's a piece of something.

[Hubert Flottz]

2. Who died and made Gen McChrystal Gawd?

What is Gen McChrystal snorting?

Maybe Bin Laden is hiding under that strange looking thing on the pResident of Afghanistan's head?

What kind of cap do you call that thing on the pResident of Afghanistan's head?(any Veterans out there know?)

[pjt7]

3. Release the Kraken

.

[Hubert Flottz]

4. Release the Kraken Pipe General...

I wondered what ever really happened to Colonel Kurtz...

[unhappycamper]

5. Keep in mind this is the same guy who tried to cover up Tillman's death.

A pox on Stanley.

[Kolesar]

7. DUers have been dropping that Tillman story, but others have shown that to be very off base.

I saw it all play out here last week.

[Syrinx]

6. I'm no fan of McChrystal

But there's no doubt that Osama bin Laden is an iconic figure. I'm not entirely certainly he currently exists, but he is definitely an iconic figure.

[bulloney]

8. Increasing troops in Afghanistan is unpopular, so the Pentagon resurrects the bin Laden boogeyman.

Are we skeered yet?

Anymore, the Pentagon has all of the credibility of a kleptomaniac in a jewelry store.

[Syrinx]

9. I don't dispute that

I only dispute the denial that Osama bin Laden is an iconic figure. For better or worse. Okay, for worse.

[Duende azul]

16. Bin Ladin is an iconic figure - for the Pentagon.

[Duende azul]

13. Yeah. And again they are blurring the distinction between Afghan resistance and al queda.

[No Elephants]

28. No one seriously disputed Laden's "iconic-ness." It's the rest of McChrstal's statement

that is ludicrous.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. they could dress someone up like him and say that he's captured?

that was easy!

[AllentownJake]

11. So they are thawing the body out of a freezer in Pakistan right now nt.

[bulloney]

21. I hope they're thawing him in a fridge to reduce the incidence of bacteria poisoning--like a turkey.

[Duende azul]

12. And this delusional man really is in charge of the war?

Bin Ladin doesn't matter in Afghanistan. They fought before he arrived and they fought after he was disappeared.
And I doubt he matters much to al queda.

What this general does contributes more to boost resistance than the existence or non-existence of an iconic figure.

[gratuitous]

25. I don't know if he's delusional

But certainly this comment of his doesn't bode well for his mental balance. Is there an opposite number for the United States? One man Al Qaeda could kill that would just topple the entire nation? No. The very idea is preposterous. The same thing is true for the far looser association between adherents of Al Qaeda. Bin Laden doesn't order their comings and goings or inspire fiercer loyalty. My take is that people identify with Al Qaeda because of its goals and tactics, not because of one man at the top.

The way to defeat Al Qaeda, at least the violent elements of Al Qaeda, is to peel away their adherents by in effect giving them what they want. Get most of the military out of Afghanistan, and start ordering Afghanistan to the likes and dislikes of the local people. Help them build and maintain their own community, protected for now by American soldiers. Soon enough they will take ownership of their own houses, schools, roads that they built with our money and their hands, and resist the violent blandishments of Al Qaeda to protect their own. Marginalize the espousers of violence, and they'll be that much easier to identify and either apprehend or eliminate, because the people of the area themselves will no longer listen to them.

[Botany]

14. We have to stay till we kill a dead man?

:grr:

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Remember how many times they killed the same #2 guy in Irag???

Apparently "Muslins" have more lives than a cat.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

15. That's odd

Bush said he wasn't that concerned about bin Laden.

[deminks]

17. You know, OBL has never been on the FBI Most Wanted list for 9/11/01.

He is wanted for other attacks, but not 9/11/01. Never has been. Now, you can say that that is because the FBI does not want to make public the evidence it has against OBL. But after 8 years, one would think it was about time to show the world what evidence it has. Or say that it has none.

The world went to war based on what a cabbie said he overheard in the back of his cab.

I am a little disbelieving of this whole line of propaganda.

What the Pentagon has always said to the American people - Boo!

[Jefferson23]

18. I see, so our government has decided bin Laden is relevant again.

So much so that we'll stay in the ME as we are today for good I guess.

[Javaman]

19. ergo the war will never end. nt

[L0oniX]

20. I officially declare that Osama Bin Laden is dead. Prove me wrong ...asscarrots!

I suggest that the military declare him to be dead. If he is alive, al-Qaeda will try to prove it ...which will just give us more info about them and or him.

[kimmerspixelated]

24. Brilliant!

Best idea yet! Yep he's definitely been gone a while, or hiding in plain site, like an a resort somewhere since he was paid quite well to do what he did.

[Bragi]

23. That is tragically ridiculous

AQ is not a one-man show. Far from it. There is no reason to think that AQ would be any more or less strong if OBL was dead. For jihadists, he is a great hero in life, and will be lionized as a great martyr when dead.

(As for those who think he's already dead, I disagree. If OBL was dead then AQ would say so. They have no incentive whatsoever to lie about it, or to risk getting caught lying about it.)

- B

[quaker bill]

26. I have been posting this for weeks now

it is all about a baggie of smoked Bin Laden bits. We want at least enough of a DNA sample to verify. They will take the entire corpse if available, but will settle for fragments if that is what is left.

No President could leave this theater without Bin Laden in chains or at least preserved in small vials of alcohol. The definition of "victory" was vastly more expansive under Bush, it was less ambitious but still large under Obama until the fradulent "re-election" of Karzai. When the call for a second and more closely monitored vote failed, the definition shrunk dramatically to in essence, a small sack of Bin Laden bits.

Did you notice the 7.5 billion in aid rushed to Pakistan in the immediate wake of the failed Afghanistan election? Could you imagine a reason (perhaps Bin Laden related) that the Pakistani's suddenly needed an extra 7.5 billion US dollars at the end of October 2009? Could it be that they might look the other way for a little while when we encroach on their territory to kill him? Perhaps? Ya think maybe?

I don't want to presume to much, but the coincidences are beginning to stack a little deep to seem entirely random.

The point is that there is an area in Afghanistan, that we reportedly do not currently have the troops to reach, where the opium smugglers, gun runners, remnant taliban, and al-queda types reportedly do business (this tid bit from NPR). Opium smuggling and gun running are traditional Afghan businesses with a very long history. The funding generated keeps the insurgents in the field. We intend to take it. In one location we have already seized 91 metric tons of opium. It is understood that a larger stockpile exists. This is what keeps Bin Laden and Co. in business.

The plan is to destroy the wealth and kill the leader. Then we will leave, and in all honesty, I do not think the "conditions on the ground" will matter all that much. Bombs in downtown Baghdad have not slowed the pace of withdrawl from Iraq and bombs in downtown Kabul or Khandahar will have no greater effect. We will destroy as much of the business as 30K marines can in a year, collect our Bin Laden bits, and leave.

[classysassy]

27. Years

how long,Russia was there ten years,we've been there eight and counting,when will the warmongers tell us the truth?.

[No Elephants]

29. The only way the US could make Bin Laden more meaningful than he is would be to capture or kill him

publicly.

Assuming he has not yet been captured or been killed hush hush, or died.

Where did McChrystal get his degree in these matters again?

Wny is he making pronouncements like this?

How can he guess at Bin Laden's current whereabouts when Gates says there has been no reliable intel on Bin Laden in years?

Why is the media pretending his pronouncements on this subject make sense?