SpawnShadow posted... Granted, we might well have been able to catch bin Laden more quickly if we didn't stupidly divert much of our forces into Iraq for no goddamned reason (apart from oil and Dubya feeling the need to one-up his dad by ousting and executing Saddam).
True, but in this context we're talking an empire on the verge of crumbling trying to manage a galaxy where outer rim hut-run planets are more or less completely lawless. So their ability to check an entire desert planet they can't even use their money on is probably pretty low on their priorities list.