I was surprised by TNR’s embrace of this tired conspiratorial tale. Are we supposed to believe Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and the rest are just hanging out in Pakistan waiting to get plucked at the appropriate time? And that the Pakistanis could have apprehended them at any time if only we had applied greater pressure? I got it. Maybe they’re hold up on the back lot where NASA staged the moon landing. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Gregory Djerejian further deconstructs the story. As he notes, the story is rife with anonymous sources and speculation, and devoid of serious context. If we’re supposed to take this story seriously, TNR is going to have to do better than that.