government that "sure they would hand over bin Laden, but he's just isn't in Pakistan." .... too bad. It isn't the US that's to blame for Pakistan's being a failed and increasingly dangerous state, it's the people in charge of that sorry place. My recollection was that Mullah Omar demanded to see some evidence before turning him over and the U.S. demanded that he do it cause we say so. What if we had called the bluff, it is was one and shown sone easy intelligence that wasn't crucial in protecting identities and if he refused, he went back on his word and the US would have tried to negotiate in good faith instead of as a colonial/parental master that must be obeyed. your recollection about Omar demanding evidence is correct. your recollection that Omar said that he would hand him over is not. he said that he would never hand him over to any non-Islamic jurisdiction. of course, if your recollections were real good, you would recall that the UN had demanded that Omar hand bin Laden over for years prior to 9/11 .... that Omar was still dicking around sorta takes the idea that we should show "evidence" to that illiterate asshole into the realm of utter stupidity. 'call his bluff' is pretty stupid as well. whatever evidence we supplied would be 'studied' at length and then doubtless found insufficient. Norm, day one looking at how those building fell, I smelled a rat and have never given up