After his latest video, some Muslims have crticized him for trimming his beard, so his star power may be fading. Some think, he has already been replaced in power by the #2 man in AQ, al Zawahari. That’s probably the man we should be concentrating on.

I think the real reason we haven’t gotten bin Laden, is we fear the reaction throughout the Muslim world, where he is seen as a savior, and we are seen as evil incarnate. He has won over many followers just for standing up to the United States and fighting back against our policies.

By downplaying his importance, politicians like Fred Thompson try to downgrade expectations that bin Laden will be captured and eventually brought to justice. He simply knows what Clinton and Bush knew- that they couldn’t afford the repercussions of successfully hunting him down.

Bin Laden wether or not he’s the brains behind al Qaeda is the figurehead, and if anyone knows diddly squat about anything knows that head has to come off the beast to harm it. But leaving it there works alot better for the military contractors, and a decades to come war on terrorism the hawks salivate over huh?

Fredrick of Hollywood is a joke, and should stick to his one note character acting on a soundstage rather than the political forum, because when he speaks without the script he stinks big time.

Michael -Was your response to Mike rational discourse? You did not rebut his point, you just, in effect, called him a know nothing idiot. Remember, Bush promised to get Bin Laden “dead or alive”. He made a big deal of this and yet has not put much in the way of resources into catching or killing him.

Bin Laden is not irrelevent – here more than a symbol. His latest videotape will be motivating to tens of thousands of followers. Please note that the current German terror plot involved training in Pakistan and the Germans were taking orders from Pakistan. We’ll probably never know if Bin Laden was behind this particular plot but it sure has all the earmarks of AlQaeda.

I think it’s legitimate conjecture that we are not going after Bin Laden because we have too many resources tied up elsewhere and we know that Pakistan politics and the military challenges will make finding Bin Laden difficult. Bin Laden and ALQaeda are the primary threats to the world – not all the other bogeymen we have created.

Hezballah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, the Sunni and Shia of Iraq and Iran have absolutely no interest in taking over the world or even causing trouble outside their neighborhoods.

But I think that’s changed now, if all the Intelligence estimates out there are to be believed. The real Al Qaeda is much stronger as a central force now than it was two years ago. It has large safe havens in Waziristan, and it’s made terrifying progress in securing a foothold in southern Afghanistan. It seems only a matter of time before the Taliban retakes Qandahar in full. As such, Al Qaeda, Osama and Zawhiri have returned as a fully operational organization.

Osama Bin Laden is still a symbol, and perhaps his visage carries more power even today than his organizational capability. But while we fiddled away our army and our financial resources in the quicksand of Iraq, Al Qaeda replenished itself for the next campaign.

• He pulls contract with America out of one pocket, and he says ignore tort reform.

• He unravels an ancient screed of federalism, and he says forget about no child left behind.

• He squares up his Reagan mask, and McCain-Feingold wants to hoard the microphone from the money and voice of neophytes.

• He tap-dances to the tune of outsider, and the big, bold lights of the Federal City Council shine on him.

Now that he has the room thoroughly confused. He says no tax-cut pledges. Well, read my lips…no Fred Thompson.