October Surprise? A spokesman for the Pentagon says it's in the bag.

The U.S. military is "sure" it will catch Osama bin Laden this year, a spokesman said Thursday, but he declined to comment on where the al-Qaida leader may be hiding.

. . . Spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said the military now believed it could seize him within months.

"We have a variety of intelligence and we're sure we're going to catch Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar this year," Hilferty said. "We've learned lessons from Iraq and we're getting improved intelligence from the Afghan people."

I smell two possibilities: First, whether what Hilferty says is true or not, he'll be further clarifying his remarks. You'd think the Pentagon would learn not to issue idiotic statements about what they're "sure" of (e.g., decapitation strikes against Saddam, rolling into Baghdad to find a WMD in every pot).

Second, this means we've got him already and we're holding him quietly to try to beat the facts out of him and roll up as much Al Qaeda as possible. With the added benefit of a nice announcement from Bush . . . right about the time the Democrats are nominating someone in Boston. There's an argument to be made for doing out captures on the Q.T. for intel reasons. But don't kid yourself: If we've got Bin Laden, Bush is wetting his pants over what a conveniently timed news break could do for him.

(Via Drudge.)