Saturday, October 23, 2004
At first I thought the people who were advocating for that possibility were getting a bit ahead of themselves, but it certainly has become an increasing likelihood. I can't imagine such a huge ego allowing his underlings to appear on film instead of Himself. Read this excedingly interesting comment at Roger L. Simon's from a filmmaker recently returned from Afghanistan who feels just that - OBL dead.
Roger L. Simon: Dept, of Good Thing He's Living in a Low Rent District
Read the whole comment, but here's a part I found particularly interesting, as it serves as backup for an oft-repeated justification for a muscular pursuit of the War on Terror:
...One thing I'd like to clear up...OBL isn't a hero to the Afghans nor is he welcome by the Pushtoons in NWFP or eastern Afghanistan. The Arabs were not well liked at all; they were crude and abusive of their hosts and whatever allegiances that were formed with the tribals were predicated solely on cash motives. [It is reported that a single day's 'hospitality' cost him many thousands of dollars US.] His cult is over, even in the NWFP. He's seen as a loser and Pushtoons hate losers, especially one who is hiding 'like a woman,' as one former Taliban commander from Kandahar put it. Weakness and cowardice is an intolerable sin and the fact that not a single videotape indicating his existence has been issued since late 2001 has convinced even the staunchest of his Arab allies still inside the region that OBL is deceased...
