Three weeks ago, The New Republic reported:
A third source, an official who works under ISI’s director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis “have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before [the] election is [an] absolute must.” What’s more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: “The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq’s] meetings in Washington.” Says McCormack: “I’m aware of no such comment.” But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that “it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] [High Value Targets] were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July”–the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
(Emphasis mine.)
This afternoon came the news that, yes, a “High Value Target” has been captured, hours before John Kerry is set to accept the Democratic nomination.
The Bush White House just can’t get any more transparent. This “July Surprise” has been widely speculated on for months, a major magazine ran a story saying that the White House had ordered Pakistan to produce an HVT during the convention and, whaddyaknow, they did it. Our heavily-cowed media is ignoring this angle, of course — I just watched Tom Brokaw report on the story without mentioning The New Republic’s well-known story, and I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for that connection to be made.
I used to think that only whackjobs speculated that Osama bin Laden has already been captured, and is being held for an October Surprise. Now I’m not so sure.
9:20pm Update: A tip o’ the hat to Howard Kurtz, who is covering the story. (Registration required. Need a login and password?)