I can't imagine that he'd purposely plan to let him go. Incompetence, bad choices, wrong strategies? YES.

If so then it would have been done strategically in such a way so as to benefit America and the war on terror

Of course he didn't - because he wasn't there. What reason would Bush have had to kill a family friend?

Capturing Osama would have diminished Bush's s case for an invasion of Iraq. Usama Bin Laden is out there and is a good hider

I wouldn't doubt it. Their families are friends, after all. And I have heard that a US sniper actually had him in his sights when he was waved off from On High. Very strange.

I don't believe that for a minute. Not one minute! If he had captured him that would have been great for him.

The White Mountains of Vermont, wow, that is very close to home.

Awful hard to say. It was the most incompetent presidential administration in my lifetime so it would have been just as believable for it to be a screw up.

I'm pretty sure bush is responsible for everything, well.. bad that is yo...

I'm as liberal a Democrat as you will find. I didn't vote for GW Bush either time he ran. I will never believe that he deliberately let Bin Laden get away. He simply wouldn't do that.

I dont think Bush is bright enough to think of that... Cheney on the other hand...........

There is definitive evidence on the ground that Bin Laden was in Tora Bora and within our grasp then Tommy Franks knew it, and Donald Rumsfeld knew it, and George W. Bush knew it. And then there's only one reason Bin Laden wasn't captured: Bush deemed it more advantageous politically to allow him to escape. Gotta keep the war going!"

is the decidedly two-faced nature of the so-called "War on Terror": Bush speaking of "crusade" and "victory" even as he allows the Saudis (including bin Laden relatives) free exit from the U.S. immediately after September, 11; associates with American Arab/Muslim leaders accused of Jihadist extremism and/or terrorist connections; (3) maliciously defies the will of Congress by obstructing the Armed Pilots Program; imposes on Air Marshals a dress code that makes their identity unmistakable to any would-be terrorist; allows Osama bin Laden to escape; "botches" Iraq so badly the imposition of Islamic theocracy is now unavoidable; (7) allows the world situation so manufactured to become the rationale for unprecedented oil price gouging, thereby facilitating an unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of the Bush oligarchy. While the economic motive behind all this is obvious once one looks at how skyrocketing oil prices are siphoning the world's wealth into the tank-farms of Bush's family and friends, there is another far more devious, far more diabolical scheme at work too: that is Bush adviser Grover Norquist's plan to build an alliance of Christofascists and Muslims on the basis of mutual hatreds: of women, gays, ultimately liberty itself. This is in the context of an even more shadowy supra-political alliance between the conservative authorities of Christianity and Islam to battle modernity and "secularism" on every hand. Here are two links (one Leftist, one Rightist) on the Norquist-Islam connection and a third link on the fascist alliance of the two major Yehvehistic faiths

You may be confused. Wasn't it Bill Clinton who ordered him released when he was offered up by the government of Qatar. - "In 1998, President Clinton announced, “We will use all the means at our disposal to bring those responsible to justice, no matter what or how long it takes.” NBC News has obtained, exclusively, extraordinary secret video, shot by the U.S. government. It illustrates an enormous opportunity the Clinton administration had to kill or capture bin Laden. Critics call it a missed opportunity". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4540958/

Of course!! There was a good article about this on MSNBC . One guy who as an ex CIA guy claimed he was there and that BinLaden did get away and it wasn't because of troop shortage and that John Kerry was right.

Catch and Release. Politically the timing of the capture was off.

There is no way that Bush could have come up with a plan like that. Bush didn't let him escape... Cheney did.

Please! All of you idiots and your Boogie Man stories...