Big question for General Myers. (Insider Report).

When General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was interviewed on CNN's "Novak, Hunt & Shields" program aired on April 6th, show co-host Al Hunt asked what he called "the big question for General Myers: One embarrassment for the U.S. has been that, in almost seven months after 9/11, we still haven't captured Osama bin Laden. With the apprehension this week of one of his top lieutenants, have we gotten enough information to be any closer to maybe finally getting bin Laden?" General Myers said that "the goal has never been to get bin Laden" even though "that's desirable."

General Myers' response clashes with George W. Bush's well known "Wanted: Dead or Alive" statement of last September, but it is in harmony with the president's more recent assertion that "I truly am not that concerned about him [bin Laden]" (see "Bin Laden Doesn't Concern Bush?!" in the April 8th issue of TNA).

Responding to Hunt's "big question," General Myers also commented: "... I just read a piece by some analysts that said you may not want to go after the top people in these [terrorist] organizations. You may have more effect by going after the middle men, because they're harder to replace. I don't know if that's true, or not, and clearly we would like to eventually get bin Laden." Could such a rationale shed light on why the world's most wanted man has thus far eluded capture? Does such a rationale even make any sense? Obviously the general does not sound very convinced.