p.s Mosiac, I forgot to add,that 'Bin Layin-down'reminds me of my grandfather!
No,not because OBL is an honourable gentile-man who wouldn't hurt a fly(which my grandfather was).But,because my grandfather had haemorrhoids,AND, OBL reminds me of a heamorrhoid!In other words,not something that one should fear,just something that remains a pain in the a***(posterior) !!!!! LOL!

But,Mosaic,that's what I mean! He's supposed to be a purist(which for a human is impossible).
To ask for'holy'permission(fatwa)to shave off body hair(nature),and dress as a female(too arrogant and fundamentalist a male,for that)in order to go off and kill,maim and bring pain and sorrow to women,children and the elderly etc?
I don't think my God(and there IS only one God),would give ANYONE permission to commit such heinous acts in God's name!
Monsieur Bin'layin-Down',is supposed to be a'loyal'servant,to a power and Essence of all-encompassing love,forgiveness,infinite beauty and peace(God).
He is supposed to act and do as he thinks God would do and act,according to the guidance of the human prophet,Mohammed,who,if I remember rightly was the Islamic'spokesman'of God(Allah),right?.
The task of every 6'6" of him(tho' I would imagine he's shrunk a bit,with age and the weight of his human failings,not to mention his?kidney stone pain),is to attempt to emulate the Essence and rise above his human failings/experience,as much as possible,to prepare him or his eternal PEACE(which is a word he doesn't seem to fully understand himself because he is so egotistical and myopic!)
To attempt to emulate the Essence(God)would,to me,be a far braver and harder task for any human,than simply,lopping off the heads and limbs,of innocent victims and fellow believers in the ONE GOD(Muslim and non-Muslim)!
If ole'Osama can look further than his own reflection(with or without a beard OR burkha LOL),in his'mountain' mirror,I don't think he'd see the smiling face of God anywhere,beside him,OR behind him! Look at the eyes of Osama,bags and all,and you will see a sad,empty,selfish,soul-less man!
With every life Osama takes,he gets further and further away from the all-loving God,who sees through ALL beards and burkhas,Lol!
Mosaic, I have met many wonderful,funny,life-loving peaceful,Arabic/Muslim people,on my travels,and in my humble opinion,Osama is an INSULT to them.
Hey! but I'm just a lowly "infidel",what do I know LOL?
Now,excuse me,I must brush my false beard,LOL!
Peace,Salaam, Shalom!

Think about this way, once bin Laden shaves his beard it will be easier for him to travel dressed as a woman and if sitting inside of a car no one will be able to guess he's 6'6". Also, don't be so rigid in thinking that religious Muslim men are not allowed to shave their beards, you can always issue a Fatwa to authorize the act... say for Jihad. Finally, since he claims to be a Sheikh, he can issue it himself or ask Zawahiri to do it.

LOL!Oh,I love it! A supposed 'fundamentalist',living by Sharia Law,with a possible fake beard??? In that case he'd be even more of a hypocrit.Good Lord! Maybe he's even an American agent,paid to disrupt the Middle/Near East/Asia,to present an excuse/doorway for American oil barons, to march into Iraq/Afghanistan etc,and stake their claim to the resources etc? And,in return,perhaps,he gets funding and immunity from prosecution FROM those oil barons, maybe even a few free poppies?
Umh? So,THAT'S why he escaped from Torah Borah!And is that why the Bush Administration(mainly) ignored the warnings of attack on American soil, pre-9/11?
Well he's worked for America before,against Russia in Afghanistan.So,some things may be possible,if not probable.
And it still bugs me that,quite a few of Osamas brothers,half or full,(I know, he has over 50 siblings!)HAPPENED to be IN Washington D.C. ON 9/11 2001! Just exactly HOW thick is family blood, when weighed against personal greed and power?
AND,as for "vanity" in Muslim men(and women)? Well,LOL,there are certainly a lot more 'indiscretions' going on besides rinsing the hair with henna and it's like.
Over the years,it has certainly helped Arabia to have one of the holy centers of the Muslim world limited in access,to "infidels"/foreigners etc,because it's amazing what REALLY goes on inside those pious National boundaries.Like any other religion,it's filled with ordinary'sinners',LOL!
Not that I care,Muslims are human and susceptible,like the rest of humanity.I just wish those who do transgress,had the guts to admit it.
Well, I know some things are true-the weather is gorgeous and my grass needs cutting!
LOL! Fake Beard!!! I love it. That's definately SNL!

Fake beard. Wow. I must say that never crossed my mind. I suppose it is possible that Bin Laden is not a religious fanatic at all.

In that case, he isn't bound by the constraints of his apparent lifestyle, but just shows up occasionally for effect, then goes back into a hiding space more consistent with the wealth and power he actually commands. He could easily conceal his 6'6" torso if he didn't have a beard and dressed like a westerner, just for travel. Then his height would be irrelevant.

Maybe Bin Laden is just playing a role to appeal to his following so he can fight his battle for Middle Eastern sovereignty. I'm not sure I buy it, but it is an interesting theory. I need to think about it a little.

Vanity is not exclusive to western men nor does it only exist in Hollywood. Many Muslim men use henna on their beards and 79 years old Hosni Mubarak has jet black hair but denies dying his hair just like Ronald Reagan did. Saddam Hussein also had dyed hair until he emerged from a fox hole. Anyways, I think that the beard is fake; bin Laden removes it when he is on the move to fool observers. I have not figured out yet how he would conceal his 6'6" torso.

Talking of Bin 'Layin-Down'..
It makes me wonder if he was also trying to get rid of a few of his OWN family members on Sept 11th, seeing as that morning there just happened to be a Carlyle Group meeting,at The Ritz Carlton(Ibelieve?)somewhere near Pennsylvania Avenue,WASHINGTON D.C.,with? six or more of the Bin Laden(brothers/half brothers,Bakr etc)Engineering Company.What if the plane that was headed for Washington D.C. was targeting people like George Bush Snr,John Major,and other powerful "infidel" politicians/ex-politicians PLUS OBL's family members who he denounces for doing deals with the capitalist "infidels"? Is this a Bin Laden family power-struggle?
Perhaps the plane was headed for that VERY hotel where they were all meeting together?
Perhaps OBL chose 9/11, because he KNEW his siblings were THERE,and either:
-Wanted to 'bump' them off,AND The Carlyle group?
-Wanted to IMPRESS his family,whilst they were in D.C. by attacking the White House? Impress OR EMBARRASS!
-Or, all of the above!
In my humble opinion,they could have caught Bin Laden,by now,as surely as they flew the members of the Bin Laden family business, OUT of WASHINGTON D.C. on Sept. 11th,back to Saudi Arabia,when all other air-travel was grounded!
I think it could be useful to hear more facts,publically, on the coincidence,that on Sept 11th,the Osama's brothers were IN washington D.C.with The Carlyle Group,who are madeup of very poignant political names?
Following 9/11, I think 'Carlyle' discontinued OBVIOUS business deals with the Bin Laden family, and thereafter,supposedly, denounced and disowned Osama. But I sure would like to know more about the Bin Laden clan, and their involvement with the Bush clan!
Why Sept 11th,if Osama's family were IN Washington D.C. AND he knew it?
Tell me that,Mosiac?
Oh and by the way, if OSAMA is such a 'perfect' fundamentalist Muslim, how vain and egotistic of him to DYE and TRIM his hair and beard. Naughty lil' Muslim boy!What a hypocrit! HARAM!
And,I really feel that his speech WAS written by a westerner.Maybe he DOES have his own American Campaign manager? LOL!
He is getting so far away from Islam and the essence of peace and love that makes'God',that he is a sad,sorry, pathetic joke,and should be publically denounced by his fellow Muslims,in order to show respect for Islam.
He is a dark cloud on their horizon, and an embarrassent to the faith.
Maybe he'll have cosmetic surgery,to get rid of the bags under his eyes! Tut! Tut!

I'm going to play the devils advocate here and say that I don't think it is Bin Laden in the tape. I think the report is great in that it has more information than I have seen anywhere so far about the contents of the tape. And, I think the lesson taken is absolutely right on.

However, when I look at Bin Laden's face in the video, I think he looks a little off. It's more than the beard. The man in the video seems thicker and rounder to me than the real Bin Laden. I also can't imagine Bin Laden dying his beard and still keeping his credibility with the Al Qaeda crowd.

The message isn't quite right either. Everything on the tape is a message for the west. It seems to me that Bin Laden also spoke to his followers on these tapes, if not directly, at least by implication.

I think that Bin Laden has been dead for several years. The state of his health at the end of the first year or so of war in Afghanistan was dire. It would be advantageous for all those who want to continue a war to have him alive as a figure head, but I don't think it is true. This tape and the last couple that supposedly came from him show up in such a way, and carry a message that serves the US war machine as much as Al Qaeda.

I won't comment on who might have created it because fanatics on both sides have this agenda, but I don't think it is Bin Laden.

I really liked your Mosaic Intelligence Report on Bin Laden. Very timely and a different analysis than the usual. My question: don't you think that the US is capable of catching Bin Laden if they wanted to?