"Bin
Laden's only tangible success, ultimately, is to have killed a considerable
number of innocent people - often Muslim - and to have made air travel more inconvenient.
It's an absurd record for a man who says he is dedicated to a historic mission."
The impotence of terrorism ...
In a decade of bloody business, Osama bin Laden, dedicated global enemy No. 1 since
September 11, has achieved none of his demented objectives. The march toward a "new
caliphate" consistent with his conception of medieval Islam hasn't
advanced a single step. The only system that even approaches this archaic
utopia, the Taliban, was swept away in a matter of weeks and plunged back into
an interminable guerrilla war. The Muslim world's "tyrants and hypocrites,"
which bin Laden pretends to have defeated, are still in place. Yet his morbid
organization, dedicated to crime and suicide, has suffered the harsh blows of a
"war against terrorism" more effectively than some may think.
As for his enemies the "Crusaders,"
their strength has in no way diminished. The American military has planted
itself in force at the heart of "Dar al-Islam."
The democracies, which the terrorists have always tended to underestimate, continue no better or worse than before. Bin Laden's only
tangible success, ultimately, is to have killed a considerable number of
innocent people - often Muslim - and to have made air travel more inconvenient.
It's an absurd record for a man who says he is dedicated to a historic
mission. It's a fact that absurdity has never discouraged fanaticism. Thus bin
Laden, who can't do anything otherwise, will keep on killing, like a volatile savage
who continues to dash about even after losing his head.
