Bin Laden’s tape reminds us that he’s supposed to be gone

Bin Laden’s tape reminds us that he’s supposed to be gone

There could be no bad time to take out Osama bin Laden. To have gotten him within months of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States would have been ideal. To have gotten him before our forces became bogged down in Iraq two years later would have made military sense.

But even now, when bin Laden is reduced to hiding in the hills on the Afghan-Pakistan border, communicating with his faithful through the occasional release of a tape recorded message, bringing him to justice would be nice.

Still a symbol

It could be argued that bin Laden has become irrelevant, but it is a hollow argument. He remains a symbol of radical defiance, a man who was able to brag about his role in the most devastating terrorist attack on the United States in history and yet avoid being brought to justice for more than six years.

The most recently released bin Laden tapes are clearly not his best work. To fire up his followers, bin Laden invoked the printing by Danish newspapers of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, whose image is generally forbidden in Islam. But that was two years ago. Last month, Danish newspapers reprinted one of the cartoons, which they periodically do since the violent overreaction by Muslim militants transformed the issue from one of blasphemy to one of free speech.

He also accused 80-year-old Pope Benedict XVI of being in league with the Danish cartoonists in launching a “new Crusade” against Islam.

That’s not the kind of thing that will get the attention of America. But European security analysts took note. They saw it as a renewed call by bin Laden for acts of terrorism in Europe.

And a second tape released a day later has broader implications for whatever slim chance there might yet be to reach a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. At a time when Hamas is apparently getting support from Syria and Iran and is pursuing Hezbollah-like military actions against Israel, bin Laden’s call for Palestinian defiance of the peace process is an unwelcome intrusion.

Nothing’s perfect

There are certainly reasons why killing bin Laden would be problematic. It would give him martyr status among the faithful. It might spark anti-government activity in Pakistan, to the extent that the government was seen as an accomplice in bin Laden’s undoing. It would divert military resources that are already stretched thin in the region.

All those things are true, But there are two good reasons to track him down: It would shut him up and it would serve justice.