When Obama met Osama

Half world newspapers woke up today with the news of two UCLA geographers having narrowed Osama bin Laden’s location. Kind of. As they only suggested where he could be right now -there is a 10% possibilities he is in Madagascar or Andorra. Well, more precisely, where he cannot be:

"What we have attempted to demonstrate is that it is possible to narrow down where Osama bin Laden is by ruling out where he is unlikely to be," said Professors Thomas Gillespie and John Agnew.

That's like saying that he is "around there". Good work, guys.

It was too good for being true. Not only the two academic never claimed to have found the Top #1 terrorist, but to be able to locate where he is not instead; but also they did it based on wrong data. Like that bin Laden needs dialysis, therefore needs to be near a kidney dialysis machine and a generator. Well, wrong.

The study also undermines terrorists’ mind. The complexity of terrorists’ behavior escapes from the UCLA case. It could have worked, sure, if everything was as simple as the biogeographic theories —methods for "predicting how plants and animals distribute themselves over space and over time"- they used and Al Qaeda were idiots. But they aren’t.

Plus, Gillespie and Agnew name a location called Parachinar, a place full of Shii, almost as bad as infidels for the Sunni Al Qaeda. And it is frequently targeted by violent attacks.

"Admirable attempt, weaksauce methods," a military source stated. Anyway, the exact coordinates are N. 33.901944° E.70.093746°. Anyone want to go and check it out?

At least until then, the Osama-Obama encounter will have to wait.



Photo: UCLA