Is bin Laden dead?

Whether Osama bin Laden is dead or not is completely immaterial. Even if he is dead, the current remnant "cells" of al Qaeda will continue as they currently operate, and the agenda for the Neconservative so-called "war on terror" remains intact. For example, "liberating" Iraq was in no way driven by or dependent on the current activities of bin Laden. The events of 9/11 certainly gave the Neoconservatives and the rest of the Pro-Israel Lobby a great excuse to shift their agenda into high gear, but even if every element of al Qaeda was completely eliminated, the agenda for the so-called "war on terror" would remain intact.

The simple fact that the administration has placed such a low priority on apprehending bin Laden is ample evidence that bin Laden and even al Qaeda are irrelevant to the so-called "war on terror."

Even if bin Laden were confirmed to have died, the insurgency in Iraq would continue, "fanatics" would continue to conspire to attack U.S. "interests", and the Neoconservatives would continue to rant about Iran and its "nuclear ambitions."

Maybe some day the American people will wake up and recognize that the so-called "war on terror" is at best only very tenuously connected to the events of 9/11.

Today, bin Laden is merely a symbol for the so-called "war on terror." Eliminate bin Laden and you do eliminate the symbol, but you do not eliminate the agenda of the Neoconservatives and the rest of the Pro-Israel Lobby.

Eliminate bin Laden and it is still "full steam ahead" for the so-called "war on terror."

-- Jack Krupansky