BUSH CAN REASSURE BIN-LADEN THAT HE HAS AS GOOD A CANDIDATE FOR HIM AS HE WAS HIMSELF: THE CLEARLY SENILE JOHN McCAIN

"John McCain, huh? Is he as stupid as you? And as accommodating?"

It's old news that aside from Cheney, a small handful of Neocon fanatics and Big Oil there was no one who thought invading Iraq was a very good idea. But there was one other person who liked the idea, who, in fact, thought it was too good to be true. Michael Scheuer worked for the CIA for 22 years and from 1996 to 1999 he ran their Counterterrorist Center's Osama bin-Laden department. Three years ago he put out a shockingly frank book, Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror and he knows exactly who most wanted the U.S. to invade Iraq: bin-Laden.

There is nothing bin-Laden could have hoped for more than the merican invasion and occupation of Iraq. The U.S. invasion of Iraq is Osama bin-Laden's gift from America, one he has long and ardently desired, but never realistically expected. [Osama meet George W.] Think of it: Iraq is the second holiest land in Islam; a place where Islam had been long suppressed by Saddam; where the Sunni minority long dominated  and brutalized the Shia majority; where order was kept only by the Baathist barbarity that prevented a long overdue covil war; and where, in the wake of Saddam's fall, the regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia would intervene, at least clandestinely, ro stop the creation of, respectively, a Sunni or Shia successor state. In short, Iraq without Saddam would obviously become what political scientists call a 'failed state,' a place bedeviled by its neighbors and -- as is Afghanistan-- a land where al-Qaeda or al-Qaeda-like organizations would thrive. Surely, thought bin-Laden, the Americans would not want to create this kind of situation. it would be, if you will, like deliberately shooting yourself in the foot." [Or your best friend in the face.]

While still hoping against hope, bin-Laden would then have thought that the United States must know that it is hated by many millions of Muslims for enforcing sanctions that reportedly starved to death a million and more Iraqis. In this context, an invasion would sharply deepen anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, a hatred that would only worsen as Muslims watched the U.S. military's televised and inevitable thrashing of Saddam's badly led and hopelessly decrepit armed forces. And then, dreamed bin-Laden wildly, things would get bad for the Americans. They would stay too long in Iraq, insist on installing a democracy that would subordinate the long-dominant Sunnis, vigorously limit Islam's role in government, and act in ways that spotlighted their interest in Iraq's massive oil reserves. All Muslims would see each day on television that the United States was occupying a Muslim country, insisting that man-made laws replace God's revealed word, stealing Iraqi oil, and paving the way for the creation of a "Greater Israel." The clerics and scholars would call for a defensive jihad against the United States, young Muslim males would rush from across the Islamic world to fight U.S. troops, and there-- in Islam's second holiest land-- would errupt a second Afghanistan, a self-perpetuating holy war that would endure whether or not al-Qaeda survived. Then bin-Laden awake and knew it was only a dream. It was, even for one of Allah's most devout, too much to hope for.

Osama bin-Laden did all he could to get Bush re-elected. Bush's natural arrogance, practised ignorance, bumbling and incompetence couldn't have done more for the Islamicist cause if he had been on al-Qaeda's payroll. And now, along comes McCain. It's too good to be true. McCain, whose mind has become as brittle and decrepit as Saddam's army was, is more a proponent of "stay the course" than even Bush, perhaps even as much as Lieberman.

Pathetically, McCain sounds as though bin-Laden is writing his talking points. In a discussion of how he would handle Iraq if elected president, Mr. McCain said that the success of the Bush administration’s strategy, which seeks to protect Baghdad residents so Iraqi political leaders have an opportunity to pursue a program of political reconciliation, was essentially a precondition for a more limited American role that could follow. 'I have no Plan B,' Mr. McCain said in an interview. 'If I saw that doomsday scenario evolving, then I would try to come up with one. But I cannot give you a good alternative because if I had a good alternative, maybe we could consider it now.'"


UPDATE: THOUGH McCAIN'S DISASTROUS CAMPAIGN IS RUNNING OUT OF STEAM, BIN-LADEN HAS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT... ALL THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE TOE-ING THE AL-QAEDA LINE

Well, not all; that Libertarian congressman from Texas-- their version of Kucinich-- says he wants to end the U.S. occupation too. But... well...

Today's Arizona Republic makes the case that McCain's embarrassing campaign is rapidly running out of money. That means Republicans-- as they see him running hither and thither proving himself to be as deceitful as Rove, as much a bloodthirsty warmonger as Cheney and with the strategic sense of George Bush-- are giving up on him. That could be a severe blow to bin-Laden's strategy. But if you look at the rest of the Republican field, you will realize bin-Laden has nothing to worry about. They are all committed to policies that play right into his hands. Giuliani and Romney, may hint from time to time that they have a secret plan to end the war or will be "strong," but both are afraid to say anything other than Stay The Course. If you-- like bin-Laden-- want more catastrophe for America in Iraq and the Middle East, it doesn't matter which Republican you support; they're all essentially George W. Bush.