Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Gosh, maybe I do need to be more conspiratorially minded.

If so, then congratulations to Chuck.

Yesterday, I put up a post about how Zarqawi's cell phone contained the numbers of Iraqi government officials. The thrust of it all was that we don't understand the sea of shifting allegiances which is the middle east.

I then discussed the paragraph in the linked article in which Zarqawi's wife claimed that the United States made a deal with Osama bin Laden himself to rat out Zarqawi, in exchange for a reduction of direct U.S. pressure against bin Laden.

My response was this:

What? The United States making a deal with bin Laden to help nail Zarqawi? I don't believe it, and probably neither do you. And I'm certain that isn't the case.

In the comments though, Chuck called me on it. He requoted that line and then said,

Well, ummm, Eli, uhhh. with the obvious implication that with this crew anything is possible.

I still doubt it, but in that context, a story out today that late last year the CIA disbanded a unit created specifically to hunt for bin Laden and began focusing on more widely dispersed al-Qaeda groups is troubling. I still think that the two are unrelated, but the story out today has to make me stop and think, just a day after I said that such a thing wasn't possible.

4 comments:

Beth said...

Your mind is great, Eli.

and congrats on the one year tomorrow.

Chuck said...

I was kidding you Eli & definitely second what Lizzy said.

I keep coming back because you make me think and have stated as much several times on my blog.

You're severely appreciated! :)

Oh and, THANKS!

Eli Blake said...

I'm glad you were kidding.

But then again, I remember once hearing, just a few short years after the Iran hostage crisis, and with Ayatollah Khomeini still the world's biggest terrorist, and with us all but fighting a war with him in the Hormuz straight as his gunboats attacked tankers, that members of our administration had, in direct violation of the arms embargo on Iran, sold him shoulder fired missles capable of shooting down a civilian aircraft, so they could use the money to arm the Nicaraguan contras.

My first thought about that was, 'that's just plain nuts.'

These sorts of conspiracy theories are nuttier than a Planters Inc. warehouse 99% of the time. But then that one time....

Chuck said...

Yep. You know what they say about theoretical physics (or the universe or relativity or something :))-

"Its not only stranger than we imagine, its stranger than we can imagine."

Anyway, I just stopped in to wish you A HAPPY BLOG BIRTHDAY!

(since its after midnight, here anyway)