Excuse me while I vent. But this statement from our president had me seething with furious anger.

Bush: Bin Laden isolated, not leading parades
Thu May 24, 2007 2:10PM EDT
By Tabassum Zakaria, REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who has eluded a U.S. manhunt, is plotting against the United States but has been isolated and driven into hiding, President George W. Bush said on Thursday.

This is a history lesson for those who are not caught-up, right?

"He's not out there traipsing around. He's not leading many parades," Bush told a news conference after being asked why bin Laden had not been caught. "He's not out feeding the hungry.

He's only had time to lead a couple of parades since 9/11. But he's not regularly playing in meadows with sheep and children (although he looks kind enough to do so, right? That is his evil charm.) He's not sunbathing and surfing at the beach. He's not waiting in line at Jamba Juice or WholeFoods. He's not engaging in online dating. OK. We get it!!

He's isolated, trying to kill people to achieve his objective."

But not personally. bin Laden is a financier of terrorist attacks. The plan for 9/11 wasn't even his idea. But he put up the $300K in cash. Moot point.

Bush, who declared after the September 11 2001 attacks that he wanted bin Laden captured dead or alive, pledged that the hunt would go on.

Just not under the direction of US Forces. We're letting our "allies" in Pakistan "search" for him. That's a euphemism meaning the Pakistani military dictatorship isn't doing jack shit.

Security officials believe that bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are hiding in the mountainous region along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"He is in a remote region of the world. If I knew precisely where he is, we would take the appropriate action to bring him to justice," Bush said.

You and the CIA know god dammed well where he is. Not the exact location. But you know the general area. You damn well know. Northern Pakistan, along a 200-mile stretch of border with Afghanistan. If we had satellites that work and special forces on the ground, we could find him in a few months. But we choose not to.

"He is attempting to establish a base of operations in Iraq," he said. So far bin Laden had not succeeded in establishing a cell there and "that's why we've got to stay engaged," Bush said.

bin Laden is a nihilist. Building bases or nations is not his thing. And he wouldn't want to set-up terrorist camps in Iraq now - not with the largest US embassy ever built on the Tigris, and the country tearing itself into three states. However, bin Laden will encourage terrorism in Iraq so long as we are there. That might be a reason we should NOT stay engaged.

""Had he been able to establish an internal cell that had safe haven, we would be a lot more in danger today than we are," he said.

We wouldn't be more vulnerable than we already are today. bin Laden does not need a base in Iraq in order to arrange an attack on US soil, and Bush knows that too.

Bush has repeatedly warned that U.S. troops must stay in Iraq until it is secure and that al Qaeda must be defeated overseas or it will again launch attacks on U.S. soil.
Bin Laden and Zawahri have issued taped messages over the years showing they are still alive despite efforts by U.S. forces to find them.
Democrats, who have gained a more forceful voice since winning a majority in Congress in last year's elections, criticize Bush for the Iraq war, saying it diverted resources from pursuing the al Qaeda leaders.
In trying to make a case for sending more troops to Iraq despite the increasing unpopularity of the war among the American public, Bush insists that al Qaeda and insurgents must be defeated there or they will "follow us" to the United States.

Again, I ask: How? With what vehicles? With what passports? Does he mean customs would actually let them in if they arrived at JFK? I thought we fixed that little problem? We didn't? Our borders are wide-the-fuck open?

"I would hope our world hadn't become so cynical that they don't take the threats of al Qaeda seriously. Because they're real," Bush said.

They were real in 2001. Did the president suspend his Crawford vacation when he received word of the threat? Did he even read the August 6th PDB?

"He appeared to be referring in part to comments by Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential hopeful, on Wednesday that Bush's declared "war on terror" was "a slogan designed only for politics."

And Edwards is correct. He grew balls. He's even leading Hillary in the Iowa polls.

"Trying to rally support for his Iraq policy, Bush used a speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday to detail continued efforts by bin Laden to attack on U.S. targets since September 11.

I refer you to my post from Tuesday. Whatever.