Nearly five years after George Bush vowed to bring Osama bin Laden to justice “dead or alive”, it’s the end of the line for the CIA’s Alec Station, the unit dedicated to the hunt for the al-Qaida leader.

The unit, named after the son of a counter-terror official, was disbanded last year, it emerged this week, and its agents reassigned in what intelligence officials described as a recognition of the changing nature of al-Qaida.

Pshaw. Isn’t it great how the Mission Accomplished crowd stays the course?



  1. Frank IBC says:

    There were plenty of agnostics and atheists who opposed the starvation of Terri Schiavo, moss.

    On the other hand, Michael had the Scientologists on his side.

  2. ECA says:

    OK,
    Its time to get out.
    These folks have been fighting each oither for over 2000 years.
    They dont want to control themselves, to SAVE a country.
    they wish to shoot each other, and not pay attention to what OUTSIDE groups wish to do to them.
    Jump the boat, Leave the anchor and get the HELL out.
    Leave our guns on the Dock, so we can say ” we tried to help, we tried to arm them to pretect their country.”

    When we First went in, we should have Closed and patroled the whole border area.. But we know HOW bad we are at that..
    Movement sencors and Flares would have been the Least we should have done on the borders, but we didnt. Now we have every group that wishes to Start, their OWN nation coming in…

  3. Milo says:

    Frank you can say anything you want on the Interent. It doesn’t prove anything. Except that you’re obviously a viral marketer

  4. Frank IBC says:

    Milo –

    Hahahahaha.

    Moron.

  5. Odyssey67 says:

    I don’t come to this site too often, so I don’t know if all-of-the-above is representative or what, but this is the most pathetic thread I’ve ever seen.

    Folks, all this rabid ‘anti/pro’ bashing is utterly beside the point. Osama bin Laden is responsible for killing approximately 3000 American citizens. His ‘operational effectiveness’ or whatever the Hell the justification is these days, makes no difference to the fact that he’s the admitted mastermind behind those killings. And yet about 80% of what’s written above doesn’t even mention that irreducible fact.

    If some murderous Mafia Don had suddenly become marginalized within The Family, would any of us approve of the law not going after him to force him to account for his crimes? Anyone who answers that they would is either a troll, or simply the worst kind of human being. A reasonable person would insist that such a thug – no matter the state of their current abilities – be made to face the music. That is not only the ethical & moral course, but it’s also the most effective. By showing the world that there is no respite, no place to hide for such individuals, you send two important messages; a] to any others thinking about following in their footsteps, and b] to the law abiding people upon whose support any government depends, that such evil will not find a home here.

    What the Bush Administration is doing, shutting this unit down before bin Laden is brought to justice or killed, is a smack in the face to every citizen in this country, and a signal to every terrorist that maybe we aren’t such a hard target after all. In fact, this is a perfect example of why the fight against terrorism (a tactic) should never have become a ‘War’ in the first place, and should have remained primarily a law enforcement action. If it was conceptually still about putting a criminal organization out of business, there would be none of this quivering talk about Osama not ‘being the focus’ anymore. Of course he’s the focus! He’s responsible for these deaths, AND he’s lionized in the Middle East for evading penalty for doing it. As long as he’s free, he has power over the motivations of those who would consider taking up his banner. It’s his ability to call shots that’s inconsequential here!

    And need I point out the obvious on another related point? Had a President Gore or Kerry done the same thing (two people who are clearly better suited to run this country than Bush, and who I wholeheartedly voted for on that basis), the conservatives would be lighting bonfires on the White House lawn. And frankly, I’d be passing the lighter fluid to them. Because shutting this unit down is wrong. WRONG! Party affiliation or political leanings do not matter on this issue, at all.

    This thread and it’s complete obsequiousness to the ‘Us vs Them’ paradigm is reason #1 why I fear for this country’s future. You guys & gals are, according to the latest studies, supposed to be brighter than the Average Joe/Jane. And yet I’d wager there is more inciteful commentary to be found on this subject in any mental ward in the country. If you people can’t come together on something like this – so clearly a mistake, and so clearly non-partisan – then what hope is there? If this has become ‘standard thinking’, the United States will collapse – “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

    It pains me to say it, but most of you here present yourselves as nothing more than fools. Selfish, blindered, pathetic fools. God help us all.

  6. Frank IBC says:

    the fight against terrorism (a tactic) should never have become a ‘War’ in the first place, and should have remained primarily a law enforcement action.

    Hahaha.

    You may sit in the corner with Milo.

  7. Mr. H. Fusion says:

    It pains me to say it, but most of you here present yourselves as nothing more than fools. Selfish, blindered, pathetic fools. God help us all.
    Comment by Odyssey67 — 7/6/2006 @ 2:46 pm

    Sorry dude, this is not the Ladies Social here. It is Dvorak Uncensored. And as much as I disagree with several posts and posters, they have every right to say what they say. Sure, sometimes some posts are silly or just plain out to lunch. None of that ever takes away from their right, freedom, and privilege to post here.

    To say the most argumentative things is par for the course. So far this post has around 40 posts. A pretty good response by any measure. Your post made some very good points. Right up until you suggested you were morally and intellectually superior.

    So may God help the one who needs it the most.

  8. Mr. H. Fusion says:

    #3, Hahaha, what a puppet you are, sagrilarius.
    As I’ve said several times previously, I will happily vote for a Democratic presidential candidate when they nominate one that is less stupid than the Republican candidate. Sadly, that’s happened only once in the past four decades.

    #6, smartalix –
    Sorry, but in spite of the millions of Americans who are smarter than Bush, the Democrats can’t seem to be able to nominate any of them. Instead they nominate even bigger idiots like Kerry, and chose idiots like Dean to lead their party.

    #10, Maybe if the Democrats would stop whining about conspiracies, and figure out what kind of candidate they need to nominate that could actually win an election,

    #23, I will happily cast my vote for a Democratic presidential candidate when there is one that is more intelligent and more capable than the Republican. I’ve voted Democratic many times at the state and local level.

    #28, The only reason I’m bringing up this whole sad affair is because Mr. Fusion dredged it up in a lame attempt to smear those with whom he disagrees.

    No, you bring it up in an effort to justify your constant suggesting that the Democrats don’t have any viable candidates. Your “hero” Bush has bailed on finding bin Laden and you see no problem with that. Your best defense is that the CIA is abysmal. Even though they presented a report in August 2001 that al Qaeda was planning something. The CIA was only an afterthought to Reagan’s military build-up and the Soviet breakup was easily foreseen by many analysts. Only the same cabel now running the White House ignored the CIA.

    Blame the CIA for Bush’s failure to go after bin Laden, the man responsible for almost 3,000 lives. Ya, right !!!

    Any Democrat that ran in the 2004 would have been a much better President then what we have now.

  9. Odyssey67 says:

    “Sorry dude, this is not the Ladies Social here. It is Dvorak Uncensored. And as much as I disagree with several … posters, they have every right to say what they say. Sure, sometimes some posts are silly … None of that ever takes away from their right, freedom, and privilege to post here.

    …So far this post has around 40 posts. A pretty good response by any measure. Your post made some very good points. Right up until you suggested you were morally and intellectually superior.

    So may God help the one who needs it the most.”

    I’ll second that prayer, wholeheartedly.

    You claim to wear a badge that isn’t in evidence here, Mr. H. You proudly state DU is not a “Ladies Social…”? Unfortunately, that’s precisely what it sounds like. And while you correctly say that you all have the right to chatter aimlessly and venomously at each other about things extraneous to the real issue, you seem to forget that I have an equal right to point out that A] you’re doing it, and B] how destructive a trend that is, especially on an issue like this one, and with a group that should know better. That’s my freedom too.

    I will also point out that totality of response is no measure of the worth of what’s being said. 40 posts or 4000 – what difference does it make when the level of comment hardly goes any higher than “go sit in a corner with Milo”? Even with your post, you found it more important to defend everyone’s right to blather ‘conservatively’ or ‘liberally’ in the face of an important issue, rather than rigorously address that issue (otherwise known as “the indefensible”). Quantity does not equal quality, my friend.

    Lastly, I am not suggesting I am morally better than anyone, short of an axe murderer, in any sense. I am saying that, even with my rather average gifts on that score as a benchmark, this thread and the majority of the posters who’ve contributed to it are making a mockery of themselves. I am also saying that I see the same sick joke played out everywhere that ‘Blue Staters’ and ‘Red Staters’ get together – online or off. And lastly, I am saying that this tendancy, if not checked on all sides, will lead to the destruction of our country.

    Again, as I honestly do NOT see myself as superior, I’m left to conclude – logically – that only the most self-absorbed keyboard jockeys among us couldn’t, with a story such as this one, identify and work to avoid that fundamental problem. And yes – these people would in any other context be known as “fools”. While foolishness – luckily for all of us – isn’t necessarily a perpetual ‘illness’, left untreated it usually is a fatal one. I guess you can condemn me for trying to give you a ‘heads up’ if you want, but I assure you I didn’t do it out of ego.

    So, with all that in mind, and still no one else here dealing with the outrage that disbanding the bin Laden unit before his actual capture/death really is, I continue to stand by my previous statements about you proud DU posters.

    No matter how many tender feelings it hurts.

  10. Hal Jordan says:

    Mr. H. Fusion does not know that the WRC 9/11 attacks were inside jobs. Google “WTC 911 thermite”

    free your mind.

  11. Vigilante says:

    Yep! GWB has gone AWOL on OBL. This is not even the most recent confirmation, because Alec Unit was actually disbanded late last year and only now announced.


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