Stardate 20011103.1809 (On Screen): The headline states that the Taliban were ready to hand over bin Laden in 1998 but the retaliation bombing by the US spoiled it. I can see this getting used as ammunition (ahem) by the pacifists who are going to say "See; if we had just not responded in the first place none of this would have happened." Well, no.
If you look more closely, what you see is that the Taliban didn't actually say they'd had over bin Laden. What they said is that they'd be willing to talk about it. In fact, they've been "talking about it" with the US for years, but they never seemed to get to the point of actually doing anything -- and indeed there's every reason to believe that's what would have happened with the Saudis as well were it not for the American bombing. The Taliban are great ones for delay. (discuss)
