Monday June 20, 2008

Alert

Porter Goss' statement that the CIA has "an excellent idea" of the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden was not a tease.
It was, however, a silly political blunder and an unfortunate example of how Goss does not understand his new role.

Goss made it sound so simple, that it only stands to reason that the American public responds by saying, "so go get him."
And the American public will be disappointed, and worse, disenfranchised when the al Qaeda leader is not immediately taken into custody.

Of course Intel has a very good idea of where Bin Laden is.
There are only several options.
But having "a good idea" is only part of a plan, the easy part.
Safely and effectively following through on the plan is the hard part.
Specifically narrowing down the whereabouts might be nearly impossible.
Real time Intel might be impossible.
Hitting (not capturing) him might be impossible.
A periodic sighting is not enough to plan an attack.

Approximate knowledge is not sufficient.
Goss did us all a misjustice.