The bizarrely complicated case of the elusive bin Laden.

Attytood: Wanted: Dead or alive or to have a 'peaceful life' in Pakistan:

Of course, nowadays every two-bit radio host and political blowhard will tell you that invading Iraq in 2003 was the right thing to do, negative consequences be damned, because we got rid of a bad guy. What's more, the only military move of the Bush II era that most Americans agree upon was the 2002 invasion of Afghanistan -- because Afghanistan was harboring Osama bin Laden. So, if you believe that, as most of us do, and if you believe in invading Iraq, as most right-wingers, do, don't you have to now invade Pakistan, the nation that is harboring bin Laden, the even badder guy than Saddam Hussein.

On Sept. 5 ABC News posted a blog story by Brian Ross headlined "Pakistan Gives Bin Laden Free Pass," containing the revelation,

"Osama bin Laden, America's most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if he agrees to lead a 'peaceful life,' Pakistani officials tell ABC News,"

catching the attention of blogger Will Bunch (above) and another, called Richard Cranium, at All Spin Zone.

Today, Sept. 6, ABC's blogger Ross heads his entry "Pakistan Denies Bin Laden Gets a Pass" and therein, somewhat mysteriously, reproduces a telephone conversation with one Pakistani Major General Shaukat Sultan, to wit:

Q. ABC News: If bin Laden or Zawahiri were there, they could stay?

A. Gen. Sultan: No one of that kind can stay. If someone is there he will have to surrender, he will have to live like a good citizen, his whereabouts, exit travel would be known to the authorities.

Q. ABC News: So, he wouldn't be taken into custody? He would stay there?

A. Gen. Sultan: No, as long as one is staying like a peaceful citizen, one would not be taken into custody. One has to stay like a peaceful citizen and not allowed to participate in any kind of terrorist activity.

A Pakistani ambassador to the US named Mahmud Ali Durrani accuses ABC of "grossly misquoting" the good General Sultan, while Sultan himself complains of "hair splitting." I, myself, am confused.

This whole subject, by the way, comes up in connection with a peace agreement recently made between Pakistan and the Taliban operating therein, under the terms of which Pakistan will "cease action" and return captured Taliban weapons and soldiers.

You'll have to figure all that out for yourself. I can't always tell our "enemies" from our "friends." Or a misquote from a split end.