23 March 2010

Will We Get Bin Laden?

Or will he get himself first?

Senior military and intelligence officials have said to me over the years they don't really expect to get bin Laden alive.

The feeling is either he has a poison pill such as cyanide that he would take if cornered, a weapon on his person at all times to shoot himself, or his immediate security personnel - who are with him at all times - have taken a vow to shoot and kill him before he is taken.

Holder went on to say as much after his initial comment Tuesday.

"The chances he'll be captured alive are infinitesimal. He'll be killed by our people or his own people so he's not captured by us," Holder told Congress.

This has been a long-standing view by almost everyone I have spoken to, that generally the "last 100 yards to bin Laden" would be the toughest because of this scenario.

It was back in 2001, one week after September 11, that I asked then-President George W. Bush about catching bin Laden. His answer became iconic.

"I want justice," Bush said. "And there's an old poster out West… I recall, that said, 'Wanted, Dead or Alive.'


By: Brant

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