Is it possible that the Bush administration is actively avoiding catching Usama bin-Laden?

To answer this question, let’s first look at our ‘allies’ in Pakistan and see whether they want to catch Usama.

The commander in charge of antiterrorism operations along the border is Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain. He describes his mission as “to root out terrorism.” Is his mission accomplished? “Not yet, but I am over the hump,” Safdar says…

As for bin Laden, the general in charge of capturing him believes he has become almost irrelevant, cut off from his command structure and no longer issuing orders.

“Is it all that important to find him?” asks Safdar. “Even if he’s taken out tomorrow, his ideology is not going to come to an end. So, I don’t think that he’s that important that we should be overly concerned about his being dead or alive.”

It is not important that bin Laden be captured, he says, because, “What’s going to happen? Sentiments, they are going to get further aggravated, but their ideology will continue. It’s not going to stop here.”

He says that this is his personal view, and does not reflect widespread sentiment in the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment.

But Pakistani President Musharraf does not disagree: “These troops are not certainly on a trail of one man and that’s all they are doing,” he says. “They are fighting terrorism, wherever it is. If Osama happens to be there incidentally, he will be killed or captured.” 60 Minutes

But hopefully, he won’t be captured or killed in Pakistan.

President Pervez Musharraf has said he would prefer Osama Bin Laden captured outside Pakistan – and by someone else.

He told Time magazine he did not know where the al-Qaeda leader was, but thought the “safest” hiding place for him was on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Gen Musharraf did not say why he wanted Bin Laden caught outside Pakistan.

But many observers expect a backlash from Pakistanis opposed to the US-led “war on terror” if the world’s most wanted man is arrested in Pakistan. BBC

So, everyone thinks UBL is in Pakistan, but the Pakistani Head of State, and the Lt. Gen. in charge of finding him are quite open about hoping they do not find him.

Is it possible that the administration also hopes UBL is not found? Let’s look at the comments of Buzzy Krongard, formerly the number three man in the CIA.

THE world may be better off if Osama Bin Laden remains at large, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s recently departed executive director.

If the world’s most wanted terrorist is captured or killed, a power struggle among his Al-Qaeda subordinates may trigger a wave of terror attacks, said AB “Buzzy” Krongard, who stepped down six weeks ago as the CIA’s third most senior executive.

“You can make the argument that we’re better off with him (at large),” Krongard said. “Because if something happens to Bin Laden, you might find a lot of people vying for his position and demonstrating how macho they are by unleashing a stream of terror.”

Buzzy said that back in January. I think it is safe to say that our intelligence agencies think it is more important to protect Musharraf than it is to risk his overthrow by actually apprehending bin-Laden. I wish Bush had the balls to tell the American people that he no longer wants to find bin-Laden dead or alive. He no longer wants to find him at all. And so we won’t.