TIME'S UP, BEN!
Are you getting about as tired as I am watching them hunt for Ben-what's-his name- up there in those rocky Afghan “hills”. The call them “hills”on TV, but they begin to look more like “mountains” to me after a while of watching two locals stumbling around in the boulders for a few minutes.
It has been a rather a long one of those “whiles” since we first started searching for Ben Laden in those desolate mountain crag and craglet tes. We need to find him so he can be charged with a host of bad things he has done .He eludes everything we can do to smoke him out.
I have to admit I have ever been a fan of old lady detectives but I talked with two older women recently who had BL.'s capture worked out to a state nearing “possible.”. One of the ladies had just been involved in a family situation in which a little boy locked himself in the family's only bathroom and refused to come out. The mother had asked to unlock the door and come out, then, pleaded with him, then had lapsed into a series of potential punishments - in a succeeding series of steadily increasing violence – which screamed “unless you come out within the next three minutes.!” Father tried. Aunt Bessie came over and took a whirl at it. No luck. Night fell.
Two ladies came calling at just that moment and were told, tearfully of the family's plight of the moment.
The ladies stood silent for a moment, then bade the family be seated and to remain quiet whatever happened, and asked if they might “take a crack” at the problem..
One lady leaned close to the mother; whispered a few words and turned to the other as they left the room together . “It is at the bottom of the basement steps...on the wall on the left side. Gimme two minutes.“
Suddenly total darkness total darkness. The family listened for any sounds of struggle upstairs. None. They waited. and The lights came on and they were surprised to see the one lady and the boy standing in the doorway. The other lady was standing behind in the hall.
To get Ben L. to show himself,the ladies suggest three months of absolute, total news blackout - not a mention of him anywhere. Then, start a steady praise campaign for a former friend of his ”taking over”. Curiosity and envy will bring Ben Laden out. You'll never get him by threatening worse-and-worse punishments. Make him think of natural reasons for coming out of hiding. Then, just knock on his door.
A.L.M. February 24, 2004 [c496wds]
