Decius wrote:
] 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...

Then Rattle wrote:
Saddam's capture felt pretty stock. The PR handling of Bin Laden's capture should rival that of Janet Jackson's tit and all of the primaries. I'm sure there is a upper-double-digit size team of people working somewhere in Virginia, pondering the best 10 of 40 different approaches to handling the situation. I hope they have some good ideas.

Then I (Elonka) wrote:

I don't think there's any way that they'd be able to keep bin Laden's capture secret. At least for any period of time. There are too many other people that would be notified when it happens. Word would have to go up the chain from the soldiers to the commanders to Washington to Bush and several of his advisors. Word would also be going out through the tribe or wherever BL's been hiding. *They* would know he was gone, and they'd be talking as well.

It's too big of a secret -- I don't believe it could be kept for more than a few days, max.

RE: US denies Iranian report of Bin Lauden capture