Extremist Makeover

Take a moment and read Osama bin Laden's statement in transcript at http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/09/obl_transcript.php. I plan to address the subject in more depth next week on the 11 Sept. anniversary, but I want to make a few quick observations here.

First, bin Laden has an odd sense of history. He seems to hold Donald Rumsfeld responsible for killing 2,000,000 people during the Vietnam War, and may have meant to imply that Rummy was involved in the Kennedy assassination. He espouses an Oliver Stone-style conspiracy theory that implicates the Establishment in JFK's demise. If the military does find bin Laden, they can skip the bunker busters and drop Vincent Bugliosi's book on him. At 1,600 pages in hardback, it should go through several layers of defensive shielding, and if Osama survives he might learn something.

Second, the U.S. media spin on bin Laden's makeover annoys me slightly. Yes, we can all make fun of Osama for having the vanity to dye his beard, but Americans are acting as if this is some exotic Arab custom to color greying hair. It only seems exotic because in bin Laden's case it's a beard. When Americans find grey hairs in their beards, they're more likely to shave them off.

Third, I hope he didn't think he would encourage Congress to end the war by griping about their failure to date to do so. The last thing Democrats want to hear is Republicans telling them, "You're doing exactly what Osama wants!" I suppose that's why some people were hoping that bin Laden would apply some reverse psychology and say something like, "Yes, keep your troops in Iraq so I can have a constant rallying point for the jihad." I don't think he thinks that way. He really, really wants Americans to get out of the Middle East. If they disappeared tomorrow, he wouldn't say, "Dang! So much for my recruiting drive!" He'd be praising Allah for joy. For our part, not one American should give a damn what bin Laden thinks about anything. If a Bushie wants to use that tactic I mentioned on any anti-war activist, the correct response is: so what? A policy is right or wrong regardless of what Osama bin Laden thinks of it. If leaving Iraq is the right thing to do, but also "rewards terrorists," that's the fault of the fools who sent Americans there in the first place.