The news today is of the release of Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s confession that he planned and funded the attacks of September 11. When I tuned in this morning, NPR was in the middle of the story, talking about his capture. They didn’t name him again until the end of the piece, so when they started talking about “him” and his confession to the attacks, my mind leaped to another “mastermind,” bin Laden. I began to wonder… what would happen if bin Laden was actually captured?
Of course, the news would be dominated with it for a long time — probably as long as Anna Nicole Smith’s death. The president and vice president would crow; pundits would have a whole new resource for their machinations.
But what would we think?
I believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans would have a short period of relief, followed by a long period of yawns in which they’d contemplate how many years it took the Bush administration to find a single, conspicuous, ill man; then I think that they would probably come to the realization that Osama bin Laden is superfluous, a figurehead, a rally point, a man with no real power who serves only as a face to put on posters. Gee, much like some of the other players in this “War on Terror.”
I think he will end up ridiculed like Saddam Hussein, another terrifying figure who was found cowering in a hole.
And I predict that the Bush administration will try desperately to gain some points with his capture, only to find out that most people don’t applaud closing the barn door 6 years after the horses come home.
What do you think?
It’d still be nice to catch him.