Friday, September 07, 2007

JOHN EDWARDS

Word Is, the Bin Laden Tape Is Real. @#$%&!

Intelligence folks think the new bin Laden tape is real. Damn.

(Although I note in the link above, Richard Clarke thinks Osama is wearing a false beard. And no, that's not some obscure counterterrorism metaphor. From it, Clarke wonders aloud if Osama is in "southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia.")

Apparently, bin Laden has access to Just For Men. No, wait, Just For Men looks more natural. In fact, judging from the one photo we have to look at, bin Laden looks pretty bad. If his eyes were any more sunken in, they would be behind him.

Expect a lot of talk about terrorism on the campaign trail in the coming weeks. For starters, there is this preview of John Edwards' speech in the Washington Post:

 In a speech at Pace University in Lower Manhattan, and with an introduction from a 9/11 widow and activist Kristen Breitweiser, the former North Carolina senator and Democratic presidential candidate is planning to propose creating a "Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization." This would serve as a kind of modern-day NATO, giving member countries a way to better track terrorists' communications, recruiting and financing, on the theory that breaking up plots requires cross-border cooperation, as shown in Germany's foiling of an alleged plot this week.

A diehard Democrat who prefers another candidate sent that article to me with a sarcastic, "Yeah, that's what we need." As if the United States didn't already have international treaties on terrorism, intelligence-sharing, and cooperation with allies regarding terrorism.

09/07 10:43 AMShare