Is Bin Laden on the back burner?

[CoryKS]

The Indonesia idea is only appealing if you believe that all muslims support terrorists and would not report him if he was spotted. If you think that there are muslims who do not automatically support terrorism, then you have to think about where Osama would stand out the most and be more likely reported. And an arab like him in a sea of Asian faces without the ablity to speak the locla language would be a great challenge.

It's not not necessarily true that all muslims would have to support terrorists for OBL to hide in Indonesia. They would simply have to feel a greater sense of kinship to him than they do for non-muslims. Like when you see family members hiding someone who just committed a crime - it doesn't mean they approve of the crime, it just means they want to protect a loved one.

I doubt he's in Indonesia, though. Probably a revered guest of a high-ranking ISI officer.

 

[Don Roley]

It's not not necessarily true that all muslims would have to support terrorists for OBL to hide in Indonesia. They would simply have to feel a greater sense of kinship to him than they do for non-muslims. Like when you see family members hiding someone who just committed a crime - it doesn't mean they approve of the crime, it just means they want to protect a loved one.

That is what I mean by support. There are some muslims in the world that would not turn in another muslim for the reasons you give. But not all muslims would. I think there would be less chance of them turning a blind eye in Indonesia than in one of the nations that are raised from birth with the type of stuff you find translated at www.memri.org but even in Syria, someone might call him in. So more people that can see him, even more muslim people, is just a greater chance that someone will call him in.

But yeah, I agree that he is probably recieving support from elements of the ISI. The problems Musharef has within his own nation is part of the problem. We have to be careful not to shoot ourselves in the foot when dealing with that part of the world.