] In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had
] revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up
] a weapons lab at Kirma, in northern Iraq, producing
] deadly ricin and cyanide.
]
] The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp
] with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the
] White House, where, according to U.S. government sources,
] the plan was debated to death in the National Security
] Council.
]
] "Here we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a
] country willing to support casualties, or risk casualties
] after 9/11 and we still didn't do it," said Michael
] O'Hanlon, military analyst with the Brookings
] Institution.
]
] Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was
] planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe.
]
] The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White
] House again killed it. By then the administration had
] set its course for war with Iraq.
]
] "People were more obsessed with developing the coalition
] to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president's
] policy of preemption against terrorists," according to
] terrorism expert and former National Security Council
] member Roger Cressey.

I'm not a fan of the kos, but I'm going to rerecommend this version anyway because in this case the spin isn't coming for the kos, but from the original story at MSNBC... Now its possible that Bush simply calculated that Saddam was a bigger threat then this guy, but in highsight, obviously they should have taken this opportunity. I find the fact that they didn't a little hard to compute.

Bush gave terrorist a pass

] The Iranian correspondent responsible for the report told
] Reuters the radio had also reported bin Laden's capture
] a year ago. But said a new source had told him on Friday
] the al Qaeda leader had been seized "a long time ago."
]
] "It could be one month ago, it could be one year, but he
] has been arrested," he said.

When they arrest BL, they won't tell everyone that they've arrested BL, because BL knows things that they want to know, and they don't want BL's associates to react to the idea that they have the information that BL has. They could delay making an announcement for quite some time if they feel like they can collect useful intelligence. So rest assured, when you hear that BL has been captured, it happened a long time ago. It might have happened already. There is really no way to know unless the guy puts out a recent video...

US denies Iranian report of Bin Lauden capture

] Pakistan has dramatically stepped up its assistance to
] the U.S.-led campaign to capture Osama bin Laden,
] deploying thousands of soldiers into its lawless
] northwestern frontier, pressuring tribal elders, and
] allowing American soldiers from neighboring Afghanistan
] to make forays across the border, senior Pentagon and
] Pakistani officials say.

It begins.

Mercury News | 02/21/2004 | Pakistan turns up the heat on the hunt for bin Laden

] If you have information relating to Iraq which
] you believe might be of interest to the U.S.
] Government, please contact us through our secure
] online form. We will carefully protect all information
] you provide, including your identity.

OK, this is the strangest thing I've seen in months. I'm done for the day.

CIA has 'secure online form' for reporting WMD

] "I can say that Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar represent
] a threat to the world, and they need to be destroyed and
] we believe we will catch them in the next year," U.S.
] Army Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a coalition spokesman, said
] Wednesday.

CNN.com - U.S. eyes spring offensive in Afghanistan - Jan. 29, 2004

] The Mounties raided the home and office of a newspaper
] reporter yesterday, looking for evidence that one of
] their own officers may have leaked damaging allegations
] in the politically charged Maher Arar case.

The police are raiding a journalist for revealing that the guy they inappropriately deported to syria might be a bad guy after all? Meanwhile, the guy has filed suit against the US, and the US still claims he is a terrorist, but the PM of Canada says he isn't. You want political drama, its all here.

[Politech] Canadian cops raid reporter's home in probe over leaks [fs]

] LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge has declared
] unconstitutional a portion of the USA Patriot Act that
] bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups
] designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Federal Judge Rules Part of Patriot Act Unconstitutional (washingtonpost.com)

The region stretching from Morocco to the border of India had almost no lights.

War of Ideas, Part 6

] The Economist magazine, hardly an anti-American
] newsweekly, called Rumsfeld's remarks "unworthy of a
] nation which has cherished the rule of law from its very
] birth."

Want a real reason to be pissed off at the U.S. Government? Finally you can put your head where your heart is. :)

News round up on Cuba detainees

] In a forceful preview of the Bush administration's
] expansionist military policies in this election year,
] Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday painted a grim
] picture of what he said was the growing threat of a
] catastrophic terrorist attack in the United States and
] warned that the battle, like the Cold War, could last
] generations.

Cheney's grim vision: decades of war