It's getting gut-wrenching to keep having to write the same editorial, year after year, with nothing new to report, right around Sept. 11.
Where is Osama bin Laden? Where is the man who attacked us on Sept. 11, 2001?
When President Bush visited the rubble of the World Trade Center shortly after the terrorist attack, he promised "those who knocked down these buildings will be hearing from all of us soon."
Perhaps we have a different definition of soon, but isn't it time this man be brought to justice?
Not since the U.S. military had bin Laden pinned down at Tora Bora have we been anywhere close to catching the leader of al Qaeda. Most believe he slipped into the mountainous region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. With all of our technology and intelligence services, have we no way to track and find this man?
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Our leaders don't give progress reports on the hunt for bin Laden. In fact, they rarely mention him. The mainstream media has also stopped asking the question. It may not mean much, but we'll continue to ask it: Where is Osama bin Laden? We deserve an answer.
Newsweek magazine, to its credit, did an extensive report on the hunt for bin Laden in its Sept. 3 issue. They detail some near misses, which we wish would be more widely reported to show our efforts in finding this criminal. But it all seems a bit empty until we get the word that bin Laden has either been caught or killed.
One more thing is puzzling. Why do we get nothing but flak by writing an editorial such as this? Didn't we all want to catch bin Laden after Sept. 11? Why is this controversial to write? Can't we all agree as Americans this should be our top priority? If we do nothing in the next year for tax reform, medicare and Social Security reform, social issues, eliminating earmarks or cleaning up ethics in Washington, let's find bin Laden.
As mentioned, it's getting excruciating to have to write this editorial, reminding people of one simple fact: the man who attacked us is free, and we've made no visible progress in the last year to bring him to justice.
Let's hope we don't have to write the same thing next year.
