He's seen a billion faces, and he's rocked them all

An interesting article in Wednesday's New York Times reports on a 1996 US State Department memo that predicted Osama bin Laden would be more dangerous following his relocation from Sudan to Afghanistan. While the story will thus lend itself as supporting material to accusations of Clinton Administration inaction on the al Qaeda threat [a claim that has other problems], more revealing is the memo's before-the-fact analysis of Dubya's post 9/11 policy towards Osama:

While a strategy of keeping Mr. bin Laden on the run could "inconvenience" him, the assessment said, "even a bin Laden on the move can retain the capability to support individuals and groups who have the motive and wherewithal to attack U.S. interests almost world-wide."

Dubya has often stated that he views keeping Osama "on the run" as a victory in the GWOT/GSAVE, a rationale that began soon after the failure to capture him at Tora Bora, when Tommy Franks was saving troops for the Iraq invasion:

Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part -- deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really eliminate the threat of --

THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.

Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed ... So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you ...

Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

Perhaps it's best that Dubya not be distracted with Osama thoughts at his ranch, because he'll need that time to concentrate on national security memos.