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" Using Bin Laden"

Dennis Sandole
Prof. of Conflict Resolution and International Relations and Fulbright Visiting Professor of International Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vienna

Sunday, February 26, 2006; BW11

In his review of Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzullo's Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander , former Secretary of the Navy and 9/11 Commission member John Lehman (Book World, Feb. 12) maintains that "for reasons that remain unclear to Berntsen (and, indeed, to this reviewer), the Bush administration or [General Tommy] Franks decided to depend . . . on local Afghan warlords rather than put U.S. forces on the ground to block bin Laden's escape [from Tora Bora, as Berntsen and others had requested]." The result? Bin Laden was able to "cross easily into Pakistan" from where he continues to taunt the United States and "inspire jihadists worldwide."

If Lehman had paused for a moment before submitting his review, he might have realized that he had answered his own question. Even without indulging in conspiracy theorizing, it is safe to say that bin Laden is worth less dead to the Bush administration than alive for the simple reason that, as long as bin Laden "remains alive and well," the Global War on Terror will go on. And the longer it goes on, the longer that President Bush can use it (and 9/11) as psycho-emotional cover for contentious policies that would likely generate debate and more resistance than they have; e.g., among others, a war without apparent end and continuing U.S. casualties in Iraq; massive tax cuts and a resulting deficit that call into question the long-term viability not just of the U.S. economy but of society as well; an approach to environmental degradation, including global warming, that borders on the criminal; and a $2.77 trillion budget that privileges defense "in the abstract" at the scathing expense of programs for the needy in education, health care, housing and other social needs.

-- DENNIS J.D. SANDOLE
Professor of Conflict Resolution and International Relations
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
George Mason University

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