Osama bin Forgotten Shoots Own Foot

Interesting piece from Juan Cole today which caught my attention. He seems to feel that Osama, in ordering all of the Muslims in Iraq not to participate in the January elections, has shot himself in the foot.

Bin Laden's intervention in Iraq was hamfisted and clumsy, and will benefit the United States and the Shiites enormously. Most Iraqi Muslims, Sunni or Shiite, dislike the Wahhabi branch of Islam prevalent in Saudi Arabia, and with which Bin Laden is associated. Nationalistic Iraqis will object to a foreigner interfering in their national affairs.

I think that's fine in theory, but what does Osama really have invested in Iraq? That's never been his key area of interest. I really think the only time bin Laden ever became actively interested in Iraq was after we tore the country open and sent in 150,000 potential American targets for his boys to shoot at. The man has bigger fish to fry - namely the United States and England. Cole does, however dig a little deeper into why this could have been a mistake for the madman of Afghanistan.

If Bin Laden had been politically clever, he would have phrased his message in the terms of Iraqi nationalism. By siding with the narrowest sliver of Sunni extremists, he denied himself any real impact. By adopting Zarqawi, who has killed many more Iraqis (especially Shiites) than he has Americans, he simply tarnishes his own image inside Iraq.

I still have no real interest in bin Laden aside from seeing his head on a plate and getting all of the head-takers back home safely. Unfortunately, as long as we remain distracted by the quagmire in Iraq, I don't think the Bushies will ever turn their attention back to the actual fight against the terrorists who have attacked us.