Bin Laden? Been Hidin'.

Steve Gilliard on why we probably won't be seeing OBL any time soon:

...While people have expected Bin Laden to be captured for the election, the reality is that the longer Bin Laden is hidden, the harder he is to find. He's no Pablo Escobar, surround by fear, people LOVE Bin Laden, he's a fucking rock star, the John Lennon of terrorism. In the hills of Pakistan, no one is going to rat him out any more than most people wouldn't get high with the Beatles. Bin Laden is the great Islamic hero to the people in the Hindu Kush. There is no law there, has never been, not under the British and not now. Expecting the military to solve this is ridiculous. Also, there is no penalty for helping Bin Laden. The Pakistani Army cannot massacre the Pathan tribesmen. Because they all have guns, unlike Colombian campesinos who had to fear the death squads as well as the Army. There, they have lots of guns and will use them on the slighest pretext. So even if they know where he is, they have no incentive to turn him in. The only reason is money and that means a visa to the UK or US. They would have their whole family killed otherwise. And why should they help us? What reason have we given them? Revenge? How does it make their lives better? We have to provide a reason beyond hot actresses and Coke to support the US. And Bush hasn't created one. The US could have supported Islamic culture and employment for the region, but they didn't and thus, it's Bin Laden, who represents their culture and thinking against the alien US. And it didn't have to be that way.