An Identity Crisis

Watching the "smoking gun" tape, I couldn't help wondering if Osama bin Laden
had succeeded on such a massive scale that he buried himself in the rubble of
the Twin Towers. Emboldened by his successes -- and the tepid U.S. responses
-- in attacks on two American embassies in Africa and on the U.S.S. Cole, he
went for the grandstand play in New York and Washington. On the tape,
though, he tells us he never expected the carnage he inflicted. Perhaps
neither did he anticipate the response.

A week-long hailstorm of Tomahawk missiles, maybe, something a bit more
dramatic than the last Tomahawking, which scarcely mussed his hair. Now he
is for the moment, in the eyes of his faithful, the second Mohammad.
The first Mohammad returned from exile in Medina to the most holy city of
Mecca, however, and ruled Islam from there. Bin Laden, exiled from his
native Saudi Arabia, might have dazzled himself with thoughts of a triumphant
return, even of a throne in Mecca: a reprise of the Prophet's life. Instead,
he hides today in a cave in Afghanistan waiting for the rubble he set in
motion to come crashing down and suffocate him. Not Mohammad but Pyrrhus.

Ed Fowler

==============================================================

(c) 2001 Millennium Relief & Development Services, vol. 1 no. 13
'Insight' is a publication of MRDS to interpret current events in light of
the experience of members of our international network. 'Insight' archives
and other information can be found on our website. 'Insight' may be freely
copied with this citation. If you wish to be removed from this mailing
list, simply reply and request to be removed.

Millennium RDS, 5116 Bissonnet #358, Bellaire, TX 77401-4007 Tel:
(713)961-5645 Fax: (713)961-5735 www.mrds.org insight@mrds.org.

==============================================================