When a Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words - At last, bin Laden meets his end.

City Journal ^ | 6 May 2011 | Myron Magnet

[neverdem]

Osama bin Laden was, among many other things, a master propagandist, who understood that a key battleground in any war is the minds of men. His fundamental strategy was to turn his followers from true believers into fanatics. Undoubtedly, Islam gave him a fertile field for his harvest, but he cultivated it with consummate skill.

I remember riding up Madison Avenue in a taxi a few days before 9/11. The cabbie, a large, heavily bearded man wearing a white tunic and the white skullcap of a pilgrim to Mecca, was listening to a tape—in Arabic, I presumed. But you didn’t have to be a native speaker to understand the point of the lecturer or preacher: the tone of rage, of hatred, of bitterness meant murder; and I knew that the message could only be “Kill the Jews; kill the Americans; kill the unbelieving dogs.” So chilled was I by the frank malice spewing out that I remarked to my City Journal colleagues the next day that it wouldn’t be amazing for a man like my driver to walk into the Empire State Building some day, ride up to the observatory, and open fire with a machine gun.

Bin Laden’s recordings, half a dozen or so a year, had video as well as sound, and, though in the same genre as my cabbie’s tape, they were much suaver altogether. In his self-presentation, bin Laden was a holy warrior, with equal emphasis on both terms. With his ascetic leanness, his gentle, otherworldly eyes and almost effeminately delicate gestures, he strove to seem the Tolstoy of jihad.

Would that the U.S. government had the same propaganda virtuosity. After the brilliant triumph of President Obama and our military and intelligence officers in tracking down and executing the murderer of 3,000 people on our own soil, the White House seems unable to get its story straight or even to make up its mind about what the storyline should be. We shot bin Laden but gave him a respectful Muslim burial? That is the definition of a mixed message. In the early days after 9/11, one expert on the Islamic world suggested announcing that we’d bury any slain jihadis in pigskin, to bar their entry to heaven with its bevy of virgins. That man understood propaganda.

President Obama has vacillated about whether to show the world our photos of the slain mass murderer. Here is a suggestion. Many believe that Osama bin Laden has at least one more propaganda stunt in store—one more video in which he suggests his immortality by addressing his followers from beyond the grave. If that happens, why doesn’t the White House have someone ready to push a button, the moment the familiar voice starts coming over Al Jazeera, to broadcast across the globe the photo of the dead face with the blood oozing out of the hole above the left eye? Here is bin Laden’s fantasy of eternal life; here is the brute reality. Sic semper tyrannis.

Myron Magnet is City Journal’s editor-at-large and was its editor from 1994 through 2006. He is the author of The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties’ Legacy to the Underclass and a recipient of the National Humanities Medal.

[ElPatriota]

Vacillated?

That is exactly what I expected of him... but he DID not. I DID THE JOB killing the SOB. Good enough for me.

As to the pictures?... Again, he surprised me. I would have thought he would released them to please his bodies in media... and yet he did not... and again, I AGREE with his decision!

Do the the job and leave it to cool off. Why risk screwing up somewhere somehow and provoke something that could end up costing American lives?

So, in this case he deserves credit for a job well done!

[ElPatriota]

I meant "He" did the job...

Gee, when will FR update this system so we can edit posts?... It's the norm just about everywhere else.

[TheBattman]

He did the job? The problem with that statement - there is more evidence that Osama has been dead for years than there is evidence that he was taken out in this raid.

And why the evolutionary story that has yet to come to a single statement...

If this administration wasn’t the most corrupt and dishonest that this country has ever seen, one might be able to believe the story... but in this case, if Obama ordered the hit, and Osama REALLY was killed in THIS raid... then it would be the very first thing Obama has done/said that was at all accurate (outside of his election-time statement that energy costs would necessarily skyrocket under his plan...)...

[dsc]

“Why risk screwing up somewhere somehow and provoke something that could end up costing American lives?”

Islam’s war on civilization will not be stopped without loss of life.

Rattle the bushes, see what jumps out, then shoot it.

Hiding that picture is just another obnoxious “smarter than you” moment from our first retarded president.

[AmusedBystander]

Gee, when will FR update this system so we can edit posts?... It's the norm just about everywhere else.

While your post is more fitting on DU or Huffington Post, you have the ability to actually review your words before punching that post button, Thus no need to edit. Thus proving that in your zeal to praise obama you never even read your own tripe.

[CommieCutter]

I agree 100%.

[stormer]

"...you didn’t have to be a native speaker to understand the point of the lecturer or preacher: the tone of rage, of hatred, of bitterness meant murder..."

Idiotic statement. May have been a sports broadcast for all she knew.

[HollyB]

Osama was killed on Obama’s watch, nothing more. The intelligence team continues to work regardless of who the sitting president is (unless a sitting prez happens put out an order to not capture/kill him). The work done for locating Osama was put into place under Bush’s administration. The military and intelligence continued to do their job. Bush set all of that into motion, which continued till he was killed.

So, I will give O credit for ok’ing the mission, which for goodness sakes, he had no choice but to do so.

As for the photos, as long as he is showing them to congress for verification, that should work.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I bet an oration on Islam by a fervent preacher would sound different from a sportscaster in Arabic even if the individual words were not decipherable. Just compare the tone of your typical hellfire televangelist to Harry Carey.

[Elsie]

But; would the edit capability also extend into re-writing history?

[1010RD]

Obama is a fakir. He doesn’t support the death penalty here, but will “kill” Osama for political points. Then play the noble one by “properly” burying Osama using Muslim burial rites. Then he spikes the football every chance he gets.

Shallow, fake, and stupid.

[norwaypinesavage]

"In his self-presentation, bin Laden was a holy warrior, with equal emphasis on both terms. With his ascetic leanness, his gentle, otherworldly eyes and almost effeminately delicate gestures, he strove to seem the Tolstoy of jihad."

Reminds me of someone else.........

[RoadTest]

“a key battleground in any war is the minds of men.”

That’s number one. Money is second and military equipment and procedure is third.

[ElPatriota]

:) well, I'm glad I provided so much relief for many with this post. No problem. I'm a veteran here in FR and so I know the game.. :)

But, I will say, what I have say regardless!

Good day.

[Ragnar54]

There should have been a barf alert for this: “After the brilliant triumph of President Obama…” The Lap Dancing Media will no doubt try to make this the theme of the Obama administration. Every effort is being expended to keep this theme alive through the 2012 elections.

Bush could never have claimed to have killed Osama. There would never have been any way to conclusively identify the body: the only DNA comparisons possible were with Osama’s siblings, leaving the possibility that any body found was just another such sibling. Rather than allow Bush to get credit for having killed Osama, Al Qaeda would have insisted that Osama was still alive, offering videos as “proof”.

Osama likely died years ago (perhaps of kidney failure), but there is no point in debating the issue with the Forger in Chief. The media has accepted the DNA comparisons supposedly made against Bin Laden family DNA, and has accepted the “chain of custody” maintained by the White House and the rapid disposal of “Osama”. Any attempt to investigate these claims would only lead to a repetition of some variant of the story and perhaps the manufacture of yet more “evidence”, while the “triumph” stays in the headlines.

Obama can only be defeated if the American public remembers his actions, not his words. Obama has assisted Islamist takeovers on Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. He has caused massive amounts of oil money to be handed over to Al Qaeda, and is pushing for billions of US taxpayer dollars to be given to the Islamists. Meanwhile, he continues to wreak havoc on the American economy and cripple the US oil industry (insuring higher prices for his Islamist friends). He has assisted Al Qaeda further by implementing Rules of Engagement that handicap US fighting forces. Obama continues to break the law (e.g., with the intervention in Libya) and trample the constitution (e.g., with Obamacare), thereby threatening our liberty. It is ironic that Mr. Magnet refers to Osama with “Sic semper tyrannis”; Osama never became a tyrant like Obama. Obama is well along in implementing Osama’s dream of a revived caliphate. In every way except the number of Americans killed, Obama is “ahead” of Osama in destroying this country; eventually the death toll from Obamacare, the ROE and the trashed economy will put him over the top. This is the real “triumph” of Obama over Osama.

[lentulusgracchus]

(Art.) After the brilliant triumph of President Obama and our military and intelligence officers in tracking down and executing the murderer of 3,000 people .....

That's right, Myron, defend your vote for Obama. Make our SEALs share the credit with the most unwilling green-light guy in history. Did you see the photograph, Myron, of your hesitant prince in the situation room, watching the mission unfold? Did you see the set of his mouth, the repugnance, the distaste, at watching one of his heroes, his shaheed brother in faith, go down?

And still you give him the precedence in praise, and call him "brilliant".

Yeah, right.

[stevie_d_64]

I almost think this is a fantastic idea...The second another video, or announcement from this sub-human, we finally pull the trigger to release the picture of his dead carcass to emphasize the point...

But the timing is critical, the decision should already be made to do this, or the chance of a lifetime will be lost...

But I am sure the WH has already screwed this chance up as well...Amoung a great many other things...

[donmeaker]

I figure the Osama dead photo will be released in October, just before the election. You heard it here first.

Now me, I would have kept it silent, tried to roll up the network for 7 months, and said “ no comment” to accusations by Pakistan. It would have made life easier for the Pakistan army in their civil war against the Pakistan intelligence agency.

[stevie_d_64]

That would not be a surprising political play by that bunch...You get the credit though for calling it...;-)