The Sounds of Silence

Where, oh where, has al Qaeda (translated The Base) been?

On an NPR roundtable of experts tonight, that was the question.

Michael Scheuer, the former bin Laden team leader at the CIA, had this to say:

"bin Laden knows that silence is power.

Westerners don't understand that concept.

American Presidents don't understand that. They talk to much about things that we should be silent on.

The Base is expert at one thing. Media manipulation.

The reason folks in Cairo and Tunis aren't holding up signs supporting The Base is they know that will bring Western and U.S. forceful opposition.

Don't think that just because we haven't heard from them that they aren't active."


Revolutions have cycles.

Russia had two revolutions in 1917.

In February of 1917, the Tsar or Czar or the dictator was unseated.

In October of 1917, the Bolsheviks revolted and took power. Under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin with aid from Leon Trotsky. Joseph Stalin followed.

The Bolsheviks ruled until December 1991.

When viewed thru the lens of CNN, the recent events in the Middle East look like a call for secular democracy.

Tap the brakes.

The majority of folks there want Sharia law.

The Base wants just that. Worldwide.

Buckle up and wait.

It ain't over, by a long shot.

bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are licking their chops. And Zawahiri is Egyptian, and was a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood.

It wouldn't be surprising if those two got into a power battle.

Watch Zawahiri.

He may one day try to collect the $25 million bounty on bin Laden.