Matthew Pennington at the AP reports that a State Department counterterrorism official says that the US is closer than ever to catching Osama bin Laden and his top deputies:

"If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught," Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, told private Geo television network.

Asked if concrete progress had been made during the last two months — when Pakistan has arrested dozens of terror suspects including some key al-Qaida operatives — Black said, "Yes, I would say this."

Black, who briefed a group of Pakistani journalists after talks with officials here Friday, said he could not predict exactly when bin Laden and other top al-Qaida fugitives would be nabbed.

"What I tell people, I would be surprised but not necessarily shocked if we wake up tomorrow and he's been caught along with all his lieutenants. That can happen because of the programs and infrastructure in place," he told Geo.

Pardon me if I don't wake up and rush to the computer ... or at least don't speed up the process. I fail to see what is gained by the US in having people talk like this. All it does is emphasize the fact that we don't have him yet, and if they think that making these kinds of statements will rattle Osama into making a mistake, then they have made the mistake of treating him like a rational actor.

Why don't we just dispense with the rhetoric and make comments like, "We are continuing to make steady progress and will take any opportunity presented us with all possible speed," and leave it at that?

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The latest in blogospheric rumor-mongering is that we almost have OBL. This would really be cause for celebration. Except for one important fact. It's probably not the truth. [Read More]

Tracked on September 5, 2004 9:53 AM