YESTERDAY WAS OSAMA BIN-LADEN'S 50TH BIRTHDAY-- BUSH HASN'T CAUGHT HIM YET-- NOT DEAD, NOT ALIVE

Bad news: Osama bin-Laden is as beloved and admired in the Muslim world as George W. Bush is hated in every part of the world. How could people admire Osama bin-Laden, you wonder? I'd like to suggest you read a book by Mike Scheur (AKA- "Anonymous"), the former CIA vet who ran the Counterterrorist Center's bin-Laden desk until 1999. The book is called IMPERIAL HUBRIS and its revelations are jaw dropping.

If you wonder what kind of madmen and kooks in northwest Pakistan could possibly harbor a vicious criminal and mass murderer like Osama bin-Laden, Scheur can help you understand. Although Bush, Cheney and a clueless mass media have fed Americans a line of propaganda nonsense about how bin-Laden is "evil incarnate" and how he "hates democracy," that view hasn't taken hold in the Muslim world. Quite the contrary, in fact. "Osama" is the most popular name for Muslim babies in many places and the BBC reported that in one Nigerian hospital 70% of male babies were being named Osama. And they're not even anywhere near Iraq or Afghanistan!


What Americans don't understand is that not everyone sees everything through the lens of Fox "News" and the Republican Noise Machine. To much of the world, bin-Laden is waging a legitimate defensive jihad (or holy war to protect the Muslim faith) against aggressors. And... on top of that bin-Laden is a classic Islamic hero with every virtue, from modesty and personal bravery to poetic communications skills and generosity, admired by his society.

George Bush's presidency, the American attack on Iraq and the incompetently run occupation of Iraq have raised bin-Laden to the stature of the most popular and admired man among the world's Muslims (one in four people on the planet). Muslims look at him as the only man willing to lay it all on the line and stand up to the detested and dangerous Bush, who most people throughout the Muslim world view as a vicious psychopath. Not even Bush questions bin-Laden's determination to make sure the GOP would win the U.S. elections. I feel certain that had Bush sent Ollie North over with a birthday cake bin-Laden's birthday would have been that Bush could have 8 more years in the White House. Bin-Laden's admirers prayed he'd have another 200 years of life