Osama Bin Laden in Iran? What Could that Mean for Us?

What if Osama bin Laden is in Iran? What if the United States is looking in all the wrong places (again) while bin Laden makes his propaganda tapes in relative safety, under the protection of some Sunni enclave along the border of Afghanistan - but in Iran, not Pakistan? And what if he's there with the knowledge of the Iranian government?

This is not as far-fetched as it might seem at first. Consider a few things that we do know.

We know that the 9/11 Commission found that there was far more indications of cooperation between the government officials in Iran and Pakistan with Al Qaeda than with Iraq prior to September 11th.

We know that hundreds of Al Qaeda operatives (including bin Laden's son) fled to Iran for safety after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

We know that "senior Al Qaeda in Iran" were cited by U.S. officials as being involved in the bombings in Saudi Arabia in 2003.

We know that it has been reliably reported that Iranian officials approached Al Qaeda about a collaborative relationship on future attacks on the U.S., after the attack on the USS Cole (bin Laden supposedly turned them down, not wanting to offend his allies in Saudi Arabia).

We know that Osama bin Laden himself has preached that those who would embrace Jihad must be willing to fight with others who are less than perfect Muslims, if what they are fighting together is even more evil.

And finally, we know that Iran is ready for all out war with the United States and Israel if they are attacked. And they believe that attack could be coming. We know that they are a radical Islamist state with there own version of the coming Holocaust.

If, for a moment, we play out this scenario (and we may as well, because nobody knows where the man is hiding anyway), what could it all mean? Here's one frightening possibility:

U.S. intelligence makes the astonishing discovery that Osama is in Iran. Our president, no longer needing a pretext for striking Iran, and feeling he has no choice, informs the American people that cruise missiles and other targeted air strikes have commenced. We are at war to take out bin Laden, and to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities while we're at it.