Osama: Release the Porn, Not the Photographs

In the latest bin Laden news, we have learned today that the oh-so-pious Islamic holy warrior had an “extensive” porn collection on his computer. (There’s some question of who viewed the porn but, er, we know who was in charge of the house.) I guess this is all of a piece with the old bird dying his hair and keeping a stash of herbal Viagra. Three wives weren’t enough for him.

But let’s be honest, open the hard drive of almost any computer and you are likely to find some porn — or a lot of it. It’s the way of the world. Birds do it, bees do it, even homicidal religious fanatics in Abbottabad do it, let’s do it, etc. … Osama bin Laden was not alone, not even in the world of Islamic militants — or especially in the world of Islamic militants. According to one report: “The discovery of pornography taken during raids on Islamic militants is not uncommon, officials told Reuters.”

Why am I not surprised? The greater the repression the greater the revolution, as they say.

Meanwhile, I realize there has been quite a dispute about releasing the photographs of the assassination of bin Laden. I can sympathize with that. They must be pretty grisly, for one thing, and what do they tell us, for another. A man shot in the head is a man shot in the head. Furthermore, their publication is another excuse to turn a psychopathic mass-murderer into a martyr. It’s perfect t-shirt material. So we can do without the photograph.

But not the porn.

Think I’m kidding? No, I’m not. The kind of pornography a man looks at it gives us a certain insight into him. I can’t even begin to guess what excited bin Laden’s twisted brain. It could be something quite banal or something, shall we say, rather outré. I leave that to your imagination. But whatever it is, it would be interesting.

Besides that, the promulgation of bin Laden’s porn choices would reduce this holy man further and continue to mock him as a pathetic old man. This, I imagine, was the intention of letting the news of the porn collection out today. More, please. Don’t spare the details.