June 20, 2005

CIA Chief on bin Laden Whereabouts: Sovereignty, Just War, and the GWOT

Ok, I'm not 100% sure how to take Porter Goss' cryptic allusions to bin Laden's whereabouts. Here's the question: If the U.S. knows where bin Laden is yet refuses to bomb his location for fear of violating 'sovereignty', then haven't we already abandonded the Bush doctrine of making no distinction between terrorists and the nations that give them refuge?

Further, let us suppose bin Laden is in, say, Iran, and the Iranians would nab him if they could but bin Laden is in an area which is not fully under government control. Would bombing said area really be a violation of 'sovereignty' if the nation is not actually in control of the area? I recall that Grotius uses just such a circumstance in his defense of just war. Further, the case of U.S. troops going into Mexico after Pancho Villa is another example.

NY Times via Polipundit (subscription):

The director of the CIA says he has an ''excellent idea'' where Osama bin Laden is hiding, but that the United States' respect for sovereign nations makes it more difficult to capture the al-Qaida chief...

''When you go to the question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you're dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play,'' Goss said. ''We have to find a way to work in a conventional world in unconventional ways.''

Asked whether that meant he knew where bin Laden is, Goss responded: ''I have an excellent idea where he is. What's the next question?''

Bin Laden, wanted for the 9/11 attacks, is believed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

My own gut feeling is that bin Laden is somewhere in Africa. I have speculated in the past that bin Laden, who is a mystical believer in his own prophetic powers, would return to the scene where his first 'vision' became a reality: Somalia. However, the recent upsurge in violence in the Western Sahara has led me to rethink that position. Al Qaeda in Iraq recently congratulated the SCMP for the expanding of their terrorist activities out of Algeria and into Mauratania. It is very possible that bin Laden, then, has found refuge with the SCMP.