I know this comes a few days late, but who says you can't take the time to think it over. Since today was the first New Moon of the New Year, I thought it provided an appropriate type of energy to meditate on the matter.
And the more I thought about it, the more I kept coming back to something I read on one of my favorite blogs, GrEaT sAtAnS gIrLfRiEnD, where blog owner Courtney made a prediction regarding the GWOT to the effect that we will finally capture or kill Ayman L Zawahiri.
I'm going to take it a step further. I think we might also capture Bin Laden himself, or possibly kill him. Seen from the perspective of the Obama Administration, killing him would be far better. If we kill him, the deed is done, and Obama can brag that his tenacity and leadership got the job accomplished, the job he will be sure to point out his predecessor in the White House could get done in eight full years on the job.
If he is captured alive though, that brings up a whole different set of issues. Do we try him in civilian or military court? Do we stick him in Gitmo where he will be a hero to his fellow Islamist prisoners, or do we stick him in solitary confinement, and if the latter, where? Will the Left, especially the Democrats, be demanding he be tried in accordance with the same legal and constitutional rights an American citizen would be granted without a second thought? What will be the reaction of CAIR to the news? Will they strongly condemn Bin Laden and demand he be tried and if convicted executed, or will they talk out of both sides of their asses, demanding relative leniency and issuing veiled threats if he is not granted special protections and considerations. Will they or some other Islamic advocacy group even go so far as to spring for his defense? And what about those threats? Will there be worldwide repercussions if Bin Laden is captured. Even if he is killed will there be an increased threat of terrorist attacks on our embassies abroad, on traveling citizens, on our shipping, maybe even within our borders? Will citizens be kidnapped and held for ransom, with demands that Bin Laden and other Islamist prisoners be released?
Maybe most importantly, how will this influence the political atmosphere? How will Obama handle the challenges this would pose, and how will the Republicans react to his handling of his responsibilities?
Left unasked up until now-will Obama actually deserve credit for capturing Bin Laden, or will it actually be more the result of behind the scenes maneuvering by Hillary Clinton, pulling strings and twisting arms among the power elites in Pakistan, who will actually be the one responsible for Bin Laden being found-and delivered. After all, it would be a win, win, win, for her. There would be no downside. She would take the lions share of the credit, or could obviously if she so chose, while Obama is left with all of the never-ending and increasingly painful headaches, which might well be enough to keep him up at night, and possibly even cause him to have to call off a vacation or two.
One things for sure though, if this does happen, most especially if Bin Laden is captured alive, for all the pain and agony this would induce in the Obama Administration, it would render the potential of a political challenge from his left in 2012 highly unlikely to gain as much traction as it ordinarily would. With all the problems that would be manifest by a Bin Laden capture, especially if it resulted in a serious increase in violent terrorist attacks here or abroad, no one would be interested in a far left candidate's take on the matter.
No, at that point, the problem would be from his right. And the woman responsible for the capture would be holding all the cards.
