Bush has a smug look about him....

Sort of like he did when he came out to proclaim that "we" had pulled Saddam out of the hole over in Tikrit. He would not make a very good poker player. Whether or not the alert in NY is fake or not, we should assume that it is real for the time being. Why?

Because a lot of stuff has been happening in Pakistan in the last 2-3 weeks. And today, there were 13 arrests of al Qaeda operatives in Britain. Where did they get the names of 13 operatives? My guess would be that they came off the computer files that the Pakistanis captured a few days ago.

There is nothing Bush wants more or needs more than the capture of some high-level al Qaeda operatives or leaders before his Convention and certainly before the election in November. That's about the only hand he has to draw to - sort of like looking for the Jack of Diamonds to his inside straight. And he will pay whatever he has to pay to win the pot. Somebody needs to slip the Jack of Diamonds under the table to him.

There is a good possibility that the computer disk had information about Osama. Perhaps the general area where he may be hiding? Perhaps the exact location? A few people in Pakistan will stand to profit handsomely if they can turn over Osama. We should hold our two pair real close to our vest. The only card that will beat us is that Jack of Diamonds.

George W Bush remembers that his father peaked too early in 1992. The war ended too quickly for him. His 89% approval ratings melted away in the hot summer of 1992. By the fall, his victory in the war was a distant memory and Bill Clinton defeated him.

George W Bush does not wish to see the same verdict in 2004. He wants to be seen as a winner when November rolls around. And he will do whatever he has to do to make sure he doesn't make the same mistake as his father.

He is looking at sure defeat unless he can capture Osama bin Laden between now and November the 2nd. He knows that and he will pay any price to find the man that will give him a fighting chance. The news of the last few days have encouraged him mightily and he is once again wearing his most arrogant confidence suit. That's what confidence men do.

The truth is that Osama should have been captured already but we had a small detour in Iraq that killed over 900 of our troops. Democrats should not permit Osama bin Laden to carry as much weight as Mr Bush would like to assign him. Yes, it is important that we catch him but there are bigger problems in the world now that must be addressed, thanks mostly to Mr Bush himself. Let us hope he does catch Osama so we can get on with cleaning up his mess.

Cryo sama bin Laden. -:)

We should not permit ourselves to get caught with our britches down...

Bush always has a smug look about him. We all suspected a "July Surprise" and we got it...perhaps Britain was just a little late to the ball. I find it incredibly hard to believe the sudden surge in terrorist suspect arrests, all during or immediately after the DNC, to be mere circumstance.

Bush has pull with Tony Blair...he could have asked the Brits to hold off on arrests until now. Just as he told Pakistan we wanted bodies during Kerry's speech.

I'm also noticing a very regular one-news-item-a-day pattern. This has the feel of governmental management.

Would your bet the farm?......Or the next election?

if he did draw the jack of diamonds with convenient timing...I think even repubs have noticed the convenient timing of terror alerts, for example. I think this could work against them if people think the timing was intentionally and transparently political

If, IF, Bush has something up his sleeve, it'll come out before the RNC. It has to. They need the primetime media exposure to parade Osama around, ironically, like Jesus on his way towards crucifixion.

Capturing Osama on September 30th won't give the public enough time to absorb the information and irrationally swing towards Bush. Kerry's whole non-Iraq plan for the middle east is essentially "I'll go after Osama". That's why the GOP needs, if they have him, to bring it out before the convention, then have 10+ hours of primetime multi-channel exposure for them to basically have a public circle-jerk onto the microphone.

If they don't come up with Osama bin Laden by the Republican convention, they'll never have him. If they have any news right now, it'll come out before then.

I would agree. They would like to catch Osama before their Convention. He thinks that would be what he needs to win the election. Democrats should not permit him to give Osama so much weight. There are bigger problems in the world now.

Unfortunately, most of America thinks terrorism is problem #1. And whoever doesn't, the media is trying to change their minds. Kerry the presidential candidate has to play into this, and the party as a whole can't afford to get caught in the wholly predictable "Wait, you don't think the War on Terror is important? Don't you remember 9/11?" response.

The things that should happen won't happen during an election year, when all politics is sound-byte politics.

"...the party as a whole can't afford to get caught in the wholly predictable "Wait, you don't think the War on Terror is important? Don't you remember 9/11?" response."
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We are sort of falling into a trap where all we will be talking about is whether Bush will be successful capturing one of the "leaders" of al Qaeda. we should not let him escape so easily.

border.