Meanwhile..... OBL is watching world cup soccer game

[tocqueville]

Bin Laden, football fever and the art of war
By Tony Karon

I have a pretty good idea where Osama bin Laden will be on June 14 - and June 19, and again on June 23. Not his exact location, but it's a safe bet he'll be in front of a TV tuned in to Saudi Arabia's World Cup soccer (football to some) matches with, respectively, Tunisia, Ukraine and Spain.

Legend has it that soccer is one of bin Laden's guilty pleasures. He's unlikely to miss the spectacle of the men from the land of the Prophet taking on the infidels of al-Andalus. He probably has a soft spot for Tunisia too, that country being the only one on record thus far to see one of its professional soccer players attempt to join al-Qaeda's martyrs.

Nor will bin Laden be alone among America's enemies in spending June engrossed in the quadrennial spectacle of the World Cup, staged this time in Germany. Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has even threatened to show up if Iran progresses beyond the first round. Seeking to burnish his populist credentials at home, Ahmadinejad recently allowed himself to be photographed in sweats kicking a ball around with the Iranian team during a training session. You can bet Kim Jong-il will watch, too, even though it is South Korea that represents his nation's hopes this year.

President George W Bush may give the event a miss - one can only wonder what he would make of a game in which the US has a negligible chance of being world champion; for Americans with qualms about their country's imperial role, by contrast, supporting the plucky and rather well-liked outsiders of Team USA is an opportunity for guilt-free patriotic fervor. But you can be sure that Bush allies like Tony Blair, Angela Merkel, Jacques Chirac, Junichiro Koizumi and Silvio Berlusconi (who actually owns AC Milan, one of Italy's top teams) will watch their country every game.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HF10Aa01.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Ironically, the football shirt he's wearing is sponsored by a beer

Carlsberg. Here's the un-photoshopped photo:

[tocqueville]

2. LOL

[AnnieBW]

3. What's the Saudi Team's Name?

The Jihadis?