Posted by
Michael on Saturday, September 23, 2006 11:47:11 AM
So all over the blogs is talk that Osama bin Laden
may be dead. The talk
comes from a French newspaper that published what it calls
a report by the country's intelligence services that said Saudi Arabia believes Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan this month. I'm not betting on it personally, and won't believe it until I hear it come from the lips of a head of state or high government official with knowledge of the situation. I remember too many newspaper reports from Kuwait, Qatar, etc. saying that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was dead before he ever actually was.
If Bin Laden is dead, it is a great strike at the heart of Al Qaeda, but it is no way the end of the problem. Eric at Neophyte Pundit pointed this out very well:
Zawahiri is just as threatening, and no doubt, there
is a larger role for some heretofre unknown Jihadist. The
Islamofascist movement does not die with OBL, it just needs a new
figurehead.
Many of the videos put out by Al Qaeda to rally their troops and frighten their opponents have featured Zawahiri far more than Bin Laden, including one recently that threatened France.
The problem of Islamic terrorism is not defined to one man. It is a global disease perpetrated by thousands (if not more) parasites. It is as President Bush has said:
The enemies of liberty come from different parts of the world, and they
take inspiration from different sources. Some are radicalized followers of
the Sunni tradition, who swear allegiance to terrorist organizations like
al Qaeda. Others are radicalized followers of the Shia tradition, who join
groups like Hezbollah and take guidance from state sponsors like Syria and
Iran......And the unifying feature of this movement, the link
that spans sectarian divisions and local grievances, is the rigid
conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam.
That was taken from Bush's
August 31 speech before the American Legion, which I recommend you all watch or read.
UPDATE: CNN has a
big section dedicated to the story. It's heartening that the news networks are now reporting it.