http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090408/ARTICLE/904081043/-1/NEWSSITEMAP

By Jeremy Wallace

Published: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 8:42 p.m.

BRADENTON - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson predicted Tuesday that the seven-year hunt for terrorism mastermind Osama bin Laden is nearly over.

"Within a year, we will have bin Laden," Nelson declared in a speech to about 200 people at a Manatee Chamber of Commerce event.

Nelson's prediction was surprising because it contradicted recent statements by the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who suggested it could be years before bin Laden is captured. Just three weeks ago, Gates likened the search to the FBI's 17-year hunt for convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.

It is unclear on what Nelson based his assertion.

Nelson left the area shortly after his speech.

Repeated requests by the Herald-Tribune to interview the senator were unsuccessful, with Nelson failing to return phone messages.

This is nervous breakdown material for Bushbots.

WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.

The target was a meeting of Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations.

But the mission was called off after Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter J. Goss, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, said a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/washington/08intel.html?hp

Robert Scheer wrote about it at Huffpost:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/bushs-pakistan-paradox_b_55755.html