Separated at Birth: the Osama Edition

With the FBI recently releasing photographs of an "aged" Osama bin Laden. I saw this recently and thought it would be helpful to illustrate:

The image on the left is that of King Herod who ordered John the Baptist beheaded.

From Head of John the Baptist on a Charger Mark 6:24-29, 1886-1896, James Tissot, Brookyln Museum.

Odd Things about the Fort Hood Shooting (2)
This is just a personal observation as I've not been methodical about writing down the sources, but it seems to me that the response to demonstrate this was a not a terrorist act, and indeed not even a criminal act, comes a little too fast and too well-packaged to be completely a spontaneous reaction to the events of Thursday.

There's a therapeutic interpretation (stress drove Major Hasan to insanity). This one is popular with the liberals and undoubtedly with the lawyers who will be handling the still-living Major Hasan. Members of Hasan's family rushed to any reporters to paint the suspect as a model officer and model citizen, incapable of anger or rage, and moderate in all his views.

There's the jihadi interpretation -- this was a ''shahid'' or martyrdom attack. This brings a sort of fame and glory, which I presume is automatic if one shouts Allahu Akbar ("God is Great") as one kills others in the name of Islam. This would be popular with radical Islamists and those in sympathy with them.

Odd things about the Fort Hood shooting (1)

President's Obama's shout out before his comments on the Fort Hood shootings: YouTube

I was waiting for, and millions of people were waiting for something that would be consoling and reassuring to the American people on Thursday afternoon from the President. It was bizarre. He seems to make some effort in his remarks to dwell on the mundane bureaucratic meeting which has just concluded and I'm wondering, doesn't he realize the gravity of what has just happened? When he remarks come he focuses on what we don't know and then cautions us not to jump to conclusions with little resolve to determine its cause and punish those responsible.

This reporter expresses what I felt:

Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting.
A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama. : Robert A. George

Did the FBI immediately deny the Fort Hood Shooting was terrorist?

These blogs seem to have thought so.


North Star National. Mark Wilson

North Start National, Andy Hefty

Examiner, Larry Amon

The only official comment I was able to find was that the question of it being a terrorist attack or motivated by terrorism is not yet known. Mark Steyn remarked that if one applies the FBI's narrow definition of terrorism, it only applies to those carrying a Al Queda membership card.