Slashdot Mirror

Whoops, it looks like the linked site is Slashdotted already! You can find a much better article about this issue here. I think it goes into a lot more detail than the now-Slashdotted article that was linked to by the story.

Whoops, it looks like the linked site is Slashdotted already! You can find a much better article about this issue here. I think it goes into a lot more detail than the now-Slashdotted article that was linked to by the story.

I managed to read the article before it was Slashdotted, but I wasn't very impressed by it. Another article here offers a much fairer treatment of the subject. Give it a look!

Whoops, it looks like the linked site is Slashdotted already! You can find a much better article about this issue here. I think it goes into a lot more detail than the now-Slashdotted article that was linked to by the story.

Thanks.

Whoops, it looks like the linked site is Slashdotted already! You can find a much better article about this issue here. I think it goes into a lot more detail than the now-Slashdotted article that was linked to by the story.

Thanks.

I just recently found this guide to be a "dream PC" guide for "normal people," but it seems to make an awful lot of mistakes. In fact, parts of it are so bad that I had to laugh out loud at it. It won't help you build your dream PC, and certainly not an ultimate Linux box, but it'll certainly make you wonder what kind of person could write such a thing!

So I don't know if I'd say it's satire or what the fuck it is. But it clearly at least acknowledges how ridiculous it is.

adequacy

A few days ago, I read this review of Mandrake 8.1 which was, to say the least, a bit controversial. After reading some of the comments on the story, I wonder about the accuracy of many things in the article, but you can't deny that it genuinely reflects someone's experience with Linux. It's important to keep up with reviews that AREN'T written by us UNIX gurus, because widespread adoption hinges on the experience new users have with the OS.

Factual or not, this is how new users see the operating system. The harassment that the author of the review received in the wake of writting it will probably drive him away from Open-Source forever and only further reinforce the stereotype of the Linux Community being elitists and jerks. Another story on that site (I can't really figure out the purpose of the site; some of the stuff is really weird) reinforces the same idea: new users like the authors of these two articles are insulted and demeaned for "factual errors" because they're... gasp... new users. The irrational desire for guruism and leetness wins out over the rational desire to encourage and help new users, and ultimately the Linux Community suffers.

Just something to think about.

I personally find Mandrake 8.1 to be a real gem (the X configuration has improved greatly, I love the changes to the package management, and I see little changes here and there that keep making me smile), but if the review reflects the experience that most new users have, maybe it'd make more sense to examine the OS experience rather than flaming the newbies.

A few days ago, I read this review of Mandrake 8.1 which was, to say the least, a bit controversial. After reading some of the comments on the story, I wonder about the accuracy of many things in the article, but you can't deny that it genuinely reflects someone's experience with Linux. It's important to keep up with reviews that AREN'T written by us UNIX gurus, because widespread adoption hinges on the experience new users have with the OS.

Factual or not, this is how new users see the operating system. The harassment that the author of the review received in the wake of writting it will probably drive him away from Open-Source forever and only further reinforce the stereotype of the Linux Community being elitists and jerks. Another story on that site (I can't really figure out the purpose of the site; some of the stuff is really weird) reinforces the same idea: new users like the authors of these two articles are insulted and demeaned for "factual errors" because they're... gasp... new users. The irrational desire for guruism and leetness wins out over the rational desire to encourage and help new users, and ultimately the Linux Community suffers.

Just something to think about.

I personally find Mandrake 8.1 to be a real gem (the X configuration has improved greatly, I love the changes to the package management, and I see little changes here and there that keep making me smile), but if the review reflects the experience that most new users have, maybe it'd make more sense to examine the OS experience rather than flaming the newbies.

at Adequacy and other outlets? Really, Mandrake can't let their critics get to them.

I am surprised that Jon is not familiar with the site. I think he would enjoy it, it is definately his style...

Jon,
As always, you have hit the proverbial nail right on it's proverbial motherfucking head. The net is indeed invaluable in these times of trouble.

On 9/11 I jumped onto #current on irc.slashnet.org and found news updates being provided by people watching every conceivable news source (bbc, cnn, armed forces network, Al Jareeza, etc...) this was information that simply wouldn't be available otherwise.

After the initial turmoil of that day, the net came through again and again. Adequacy.org managed to snag an interview with an actual Taliban warlord. TheIranian.com had an amazing look at the situation faced by the Afgan people and Adequacy scored another coup with live reporting during the current strikes in Afganistan.

Truly, this is the net's finest hour.
--Shoeboy

Jon,
As always, you have hit the proverbial nail right on it's proverbial motherfucking head. The net is indeed invaluable in these times of trouble.

On 9/11 I jumped onto #current on irc.slashnet.org and found news updates being provided by people watching every conceivable news source (bbc, cnn, armed forces network, Al Jareeza, etc...) this was information that simply wouldn't be available otherwise.

After the initial turmoil of that day, the net came through again and again. Adequacy.org managed to snag an interview with an actual Taliban warlord. TheIranian.com had an amazing look at the situation faced by the Afgan people and Adequacy scored another coup with live reporting during the current strikes in Afganistan.

Truly, this is the net's finest hour.
--Shoeboy

The Linux Fault Threshhold, the point at which Linux lets you down and the apologists come out of the woodwork. Adequacy did an apparently satirical article on this very thing.

But what really sucks is that Slashcode's inane . link exposer for people who are too stupid to look at the bottom of their browser's window to see the URL that they're clicking on has basically ruined this joke.

You may get your fill of Linux news at VA Linux. Also, another site has already been created to deal with non-geek news.

Perhaps you should take a look at the controversial news site adequacy.org. They have a moderation system over there which ensures no trolls slip through the net.

Why don't Hemos and Commander Taco simply delete this post ? It adds little to the discussion, it is obscene in 186 countries, and it insults the readers and the owners of this site.

The Controversial website adequacy.org has a strict "no trolling" policy, where the editors simply delete posts which do not add to the discussion. Why don't slashdot implement this ? Otherwise we will be forced to read obscene bullshit like the post I am replying to.

Come on, doesn't this prove that moderation doesn't work ? Surely this post cannot be allowed to stand. Come on, Taco & Hemos - delete it. You know it makes sense. Don't let the crapflooders have their fun. I can tell you they WILL go away once you take away their toy.

Failing that, at least IP ban the offender permanently.

What do others think ?

You might prefer visiting this site.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

You don't need to be a streetlawyer to predict Adequacy.org's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Adequacy faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Adequacy.org because Adequacy is dying. Things are looking very bad for Adequacy. As many of us are already aware, Adequacy continues to lose site traffic.

Let's try to keep the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda states that there are about 5000 semi-regular posters to Slashdot.org. How many users of Geekizoid are there? The ratio of Slashdot to Geekizoid posts is roughly in ratio of 100 to 1. Therefore there are about 5000/100 = 50 occasional Geekizoid posters. The ratio of Adequacy posters to Geekizoid posters is about 5 to 1. Therefore there are 50 * 5 = 250 occasional posters to Adequacy.org. This is approximately equal to the number of editors listed on Adequacy's website added to the eleven non-editors who read the site.

Traffic to Adequacy continues to diminish. In July 2001, Adequacy received approximately 160,000 pageviews. In August, Adequacy received only 80,000 pageviews. The number of pageviews in September (as of September 11) is 60,000, a
paltry 37% of its July traffic. At current rates, the amount of Adequacy traffic will hit 0 by the end of the year.

According to Netcraft, Adequacy's situation is grim. Due to the troubles of Speakeasy DSL, DoS attacks and so on, Adequacy was forced out of business and was taken over by JAT Computer Consulting which hosts another troubled website. Now JAT Computer Consulting is also dying, its corpse being turned over to another charnal house.

All major surveys show that Adequacy has steadily declined in readership. Adequacy is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Adequacy is to survive at all it will be among right-wing maniacs, Libertarians, and trolls. Adequacy continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Adequacy.org
is dead.

Oh yeh, and the Darwin Awards can fuck off too.

You misspelt controversial.

Usamah was born in 1957 in Riyadh. His father took many wifes, and young Usamah was born to one of the last and least respected of them. He was the 17th son of a reported 50 sired by Mohammed. Mohammed's brother and partner sired 50 more, making the bin Laden clan and influence huge. The fact that Usamah came to outshine them all is a testament to his innate genius.

Usamah as a young boy, on holiday in Sweden aged 14. His 'pale good looks' shone through already. Click here to view.

Earliest direct evidences of Usamah himself this reporter could track down are recollections by an old teacher, Brian Fyfield-Shayler. In 1969, whilst his decadent western peers were guzzling drugs and descending into an orgy of self, the callow bin Laden, just 13, was studying hard at Al-Thaghr, a school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia modelled on the English public school system. Mr Fyfield-Shayler said (in this respected news source) "I remember him as quiet, retiring and rather shy. He was very courteous - more so than any of the others in his class. Physically, he was outstanding because he was taller, more handsome and fairer than most of the other boys. He also stood out as he was singularly gracious and polite, and had a great deal of inner confidence. He was very neat, very precise and very conscientious."

There can be no doubt that Usamah, an ordinary and pious young man, was deeply affected by his family's involvement in rebuilding the two holy Mosques in Mekkah and Madinah. We have already heard that his early teacher thought him a confident but reflective individual, so we shouldn't be surprised if he felt great pride that his family was involved in raising the glory of Allah in such spiritually significant places.

Throughout the 1970's Usamah spent his time studying and working for the family business. Doubtless he kept an eye on current affairs ? the disgraceful behaviour of Israel and America during this period is remarkable ? but he was determined to get his degree and be a credit to his family. In 1979 he graduated from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in Civil Engineering.

BEGINNING OF THE LEGEND

Usamah as a handsome young man in the Mujahideen. Shortly after young Usamah graduated, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up the failing Communist regime. The Mujahideen put out an international call for help, and Usamah was inspired to leave the dusty world of commerce for more noble pursuits. He packed himself and several family bulldozers off to Afghanistan, and later was quoted as saying "In our religion, there is a special place in the Hereafter for those who participate in Jihad. One day in Afghanistan was like 1000 days of praying in an ordinary mosque."

Usamah made a huge difference to the Mujahideen. At first he was an effective politician and strategist. He recruited thousands of Arab fighters in the Gulf, paid for their passage to Afghanistan, and set up camps to train them. He designed defences along the Pakistani border, driving a bulldozer himself and taking great risks from Soviet helicopter gunship strafings as a result. Such was the personal stake he felt that before long he had taken up a Kalashnikov and was fighting on the front personally. This personal touch emerged again in 1986 when he and a few dozen Arab helpers fought off a Soviet onslaught in a small town called Jaji, near the Pakistani border. This ignited the Afghani resolve, as it was the first example that the Russians could actually be beaten. Just twelve months later he turned the tide of the Afghanistan war with a brilliant offensive against Soviet troops in the battle of Shaban. The Mujahideen suffered heavy casualties in the vicious, heavy fighting, but thanks to bin Laden's superb generalship the Soviets were pushed out of the area for good and the end was in sight for the Communists.

Hamza Mohammed, a Palestinian volunteer in Afghanistan, recalls "He was a hero to us because he was always on the Front Line, always moving ahead of everyone else. He not only gave his money, but he also gave himself. He came down from his palace to live with the Afghan peasants and the Arab fighters. He cooked with them, ate with them, dug trenches with them. That was Bin Laden's way."

By the late 1980's Usamah had established himself as a legend across all Afghanistan. It was at this time that his close personal friendship with the Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar began. The Wahhabi brand of Islam they both share is somewhat similar to Protestantism, but in an Islamic context, and they are both very spiritual men. To this day they take reflective fishing trips in the backlands of their country, such is their binding friendship. Where the rest of the Islamic world has been corrupted by decadent Western ways, the Wahhabis stick to traditional Islam as taught in the Koran. They are amongst the very holiest and most pious of Muslims, their creed established in Saudi Arabia, to an extent, and also Afghanistan, which though not strictly a Wahhabi state is very closely modelled on one. A measure of his piety is that he selflessly rejected an offer from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to expand the Prophet's mosque in Medinah. This cosy little deal would have pocketed Usamah a lovely $90 million, but he refused as he correctly recognised it as an attempt to lure him from Jihad against the communists.

RETURN TO THE HOMELAND

Usamah today, careworn and wise with experience. Usamah returned to Saudi Arabia in the late eighties, a celebrity throughout the Muslim world. Convinced by the words of the holy Koran, Usamah soon set aside his own personal, selfish best interests and began to campaign for the Saudi government to introduce Shariah (Islamic Law) and reduce its terrible corruption, an offence to Allah in the land of Mekkah. Although this was to get him into trouble with the corrupt authorities on several occasions, the real shakedown occurred when King Fahd decided to allow Western troops in the Kingdom during the Gulf War. Usamah criticised the Saudi regime for this terrible decision, and was promptly hounded with a harassment campaign. Before long, in 1991, he fled to the Sudan, and shortly afterwards was declared an outlaw by the Saudi regime, which stripped him of his nationality and put a price on his head. His loyalty to the word of the Koran and his conscience had cost him his home, and reduced him to a common bandit as far as his old circles in Saudi Arabia were concerned.

In the Sudan Usamah managed to expand his business interests considerably, and he continued his Jihad bankrolling. Always keeping a careful eye on ethical considerations, he made sure to only bankroll just causes, putting money on the underdog and the concept of right V might:

Chechnya. Here the Russians have sought to destroy all hope of Chechnian independance, but as usual bin Laden is involved, helping fund the Chechen guerrila fighters against the superior enemy. A noble cause.

Muslim Bosnians against the Serb overseers. Despite the justness of this cause, the US interfered, arresting the fighters he sent to help the cause of freedom against oppression. Nonetheless, bin Laden had a big impact there, as he does everywhere.

Palestine. bin Laden has always been outraged by the plight of the Palestinians. At a young age he came under the tutilege of a Palestininian man, Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, who was once a confidant of Yasser Arafat but had become disenchanted with the PLO. Some Usamah became intertwined with Palestinian politics and the cause.

Yemen. Usamah has long had links to the Yemen Wahhabi cause. He has also been involved in the struggle there - the bombing of the USS Cole was possibly an example of this (unlike the WTC, this bombing fits bin Laden's MO - the target was military, not involving innocent civilians.

Everyone of these causes was Just and right, and it is no wonder that Usamah's reputation only grew and prospered during this period ? and no wonder that an assassination attempt was made at this time, though he escaped with only some injuries.

AFGHANISTAN ONCE MORE

In 1996 Usamah moved permanently back to Afghanistan. In despair at the terrible situation in both Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, he sought a more traditional and devout setting. After Saudi Arabia decided to imprison Islamic scholars and hundreds of Mujahideen youths, after the rape of the Holy Land by the West and the occupation of the two Holy Places by American troops, Usamah decided to make a stand. He issued his first Bayan, or statement, 'A Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places'. This document was seminal, and simple ? a lucid warning instructing the Americans to leave the land of the two Holy Places or face military attack from the Mujahideen, the same Mujahideen that defeated the largest superpower in the world under his tutelage some few years before in Afghanistan.

"Muslims burn with anger at America. For its own good, America should leave [Saudi Arabia]."

Usamah is still in Afghanistan to this day. Despite the total lack of any evidence (The US claims to have evidence, but with it's usual broohaha is prepared to go to war rather than publically release it. It is so convincing they will give it to allies but not to the Taleban, from whom they expect an extradition with no evidence at all) relating him to the recent WTC attacks, he is castigated worldwide for this devilish act. Usamah may be no friend of the United States, and with good reason, but he has no record of attacking innocent civilian targets. He is an honourable man and an honourable fighter, with a long, proud record of fighting for the oppressed (but right) underdog.

So why must he die?

Because he must be martyred. It is my belief that Usamah has reached his peak. Already approaching his 50's, he can't continue his brave fight against Western imperialism forever. Already he is weakening, his judgement is failing and his body shrivels. Every Muslim who dies in Jihad is guaranteed a place in Heaven, and Usamah, in dying, can both guarantee his own elevation and strike a blow against the western imperial forces trying to paint him as some sort of extremist. If he martyrs himself, a thousand new and young Usamahs will be inspired by his legend and continue the good fight, and the truth about bin Laden will spread around the world, and so the simple peoples of this globe will hear of his valiant life and fight. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics, western opinion was outraged, and President Jimmy Carter embargoed all exports to the Soviet Union. Contrary to popular belief, the USA did not funnel military or financial support to the Mujahideen, however. In this interview bin Laden recalls "Personally neither I nor my brothers saw evidence of American help", so we see that the Americans were all mouth but had no guts. Now that America has, with it's usual hypocricy, decided to attack Afghanistan, it is clear that Usama must take risks to ensure maximum damage is applied to the enemy.

WHAT USAMAH MUST DO

Firstly he must provide tantalising glimpses of himself, drawing the Americans into Afghanistan. He must make sure the common people of Afghanistan understand that the Americans are out to culturally reprogram the Afghanis, one of the last pure peoples of the Earth. He must extract maximum damage upon the enemy in exchange for his own life. No superpower, however strong, can, once entered, come out of Afghanistan with honour. Hopefully the plight of Afghanistan and the indiscriminate killing of civilians that will occur there will reignite the Wahhabi cause throughout the Arab world, but especially in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. There is a great, noble chance here for the Middle East to be reawakened in its old image.

Usamah made Afghanistan in his own image, it is thanks to his influence that it has steered a course away from the brutality and violence of communism, towards the status of a pure Muslim state. The Taliban, unlike the governments of Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia, is not corrupted by Western influence, and will not hand him over. The West knows it has a resolute enemy. Even in the unlikely even that they did decide to hand him over, they would be unnable to, and surely the Afghans would revolt and a new revolution would be needed.

The likelihood is that they shall be true to the tenets of Islam, and not hand over Usamah. Then, the US and other Western allies will be forced to invade Afghanistan, where they will meet a bloody end. Usamah must sacrifice himself in the process, for it is the best way of guaranteeing his place in heaven and exacting maximum pain upon the enemy.

It is my fervent hope that bin Laden realise his death is called for, that his own death is a weapon he can use far more powerful than any bomb. The legend will burn out brightly.

Usamah was born in 1957 in Riyadh. His father took many wifes, and young Usamah was born to one of the last and least respected of them. He was the 17th son of a reported 50 sired by Mohammed. Mohammed's brother and partner sired 50 more, making the bin Laden clan and influence huge. The fact that Usamah came to outshine them all is a testament to his innate genius.

Usamah as a young boy, on holiday in Sweden aged 14. His 'pale good looks' shone through already. Click here to view.

Earliest direct evidences of Usamah himself this reporter could track down are recollections by an old teacher, Brian Fyfield-Shayler. In 1969, whilst his decadent western peers were guzzling drugs and descending into an orgy of self, the callow bin Laden, just 13, was studying hard at Al-Thaghr, a school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia modelled on the English public school system. Mr Fyfield-Shayler said (in this respected news source) "I remember him as quiet, retiring and rather shy. He was very courteous - more so than any of the others in his class. Physically, he was outstanding because he was taller, more handsome and fairer than most of the other boys. He also stood out as he was singularly gracious and polite, and had a great deal of inner confidence. He was very neat, very precise and very conscientious."

There can be no doubt that Usamah, an ordinary and pious young man, was deeply affected by his family's involvement in rebuilding the two holy Mosques in Mekkah and Madinah. We have already heard that his early teacher thought him a confident but reflective individual, so we shouldn't be surprised if he felt great pride that his family was involved in raising the glory of Allah in such spiritually significant places.

Throughout the 1970's Usamah spent his time studying and working for the family business. Doubtless he kept an eye on current affairs ? the disgraceful behaviour of Israel and America during this period is remarkable ? but he was determined to get his degree and be a credit to his family. In 1979 he graduated from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in Civil Engineering.

BEGINNING OF THE LEGEND

Usamah as a handsome young man in the Mujahideen. Shortly after young Usamah graduated, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up the failing Communist regime. The Mujahideen put out an international call for help, and Usamah was inspired to leave the dusty world of commerce for more noble pursuits. He packed himself and several family bulldozers off to Afghanistan, and later was quoted as saying "In our religion, there is a special place in the Hereafter for those who participate in Jihad. One day in Afghanistan was like 1000 days of praying in an ordinary mosque."

Usamah made a huge difference to the Mujahideen. At first he was an effective politician and strategist. He recruited thousands of Arab fighters in the Gulf, paid for their passage to Afghanistan, and set up camps to train them. He designed defences along the Pakistani border, driving a bulldozer himself and taking great risks from Soviet helicopter gunship strafings as a result. Such was the personal stake he felt that before long he had taken up a Kalashnikov and was fighting on the front personally. This personal touch emerged again in 1986 when he and a few dozen Arab helpers fought off a Soviet onslaught in a small town called Jaji, near the Pakistani border. This ignited the Afghani resolve, as it was the first example that the Russians could actually be beaten. Just twelve months later he turned the tide of the Afghanistan war with a brilliant offensive against Soviet troops in the battle of Shaban. The Mujahideen suffered heavy casualties in the vicious, heavy fighting, but thanks to bin Laden's superb generalship the Soviets were pushed out of the area for good and the end was in sight for the Communists.

Hamza Mohammed, a Palestinian volunteer in Afghanistan, recalls "He was a hero to us because he was always on the Front Line, always moving ahead of everyone else. He not only gave his money, but he also gave himself. He came down from his palace to live with the Afghan peasants and the Arab fighters. He cooked with them, ate with them, dug trenches with them. That was Bin Laden's way."

By the late 1980's Usamah had established himself as a legend across all Afghanistan. It was at this time that his close personal friendship with the Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar began. The Wahhabi brand of Islam they both share is somewhat similar to Protestantism, but in an Islamic context, and they are both very spiritual men. To this day they take reflective fishing trips in the backlands of their country, such is their binding friendship. Where the rest of the Islamic world has been corrupted by decadent Western ways, the Wahhabis stick to traditional Islam as taught in the Koran. They are amongst the very holiest and most pious of Muslims, their creed established in Saudi Arabia, to an extent, and also Afghanistan, which though not strictly a Wahhabi state is very closely modelled on one. A measure of his piety is that he selflessly rejected an offer from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to expand the Prophet's mosque in Medinah. This cosy little deal would have pocketed Usamah a lovely $90 million, but he refused as he correctly recognised it as an attempt to lure him from Jihad against the communists.

RETURN TO THE HOMELAND

Usamah today, careworn and wise with experience. Usamah returned to Saudi Arabia in the late eighties, a celebrity throughout the Muslim world. Convinced by the words of the holy Koran, Usamah soon set aside his own personal, selfish best interests and began to campaign for the Saudi government to introduce Shariah (Islamic Law) and reduce its terrible corruption, an offence to Allah in the land of Mekkah. Although this was to get him into trouble with the corrupt authorities on several occasions, the real shakedown occurred when King Fahd decided to allow Western troops in the Kingdom during the Gulf War. Usamah criticised the Saudi regime for this terrible decision, and was promptly hounded with a harassment campaign. Before long, in 1991, he fled to the Sudan, and shortly afterwards was declared an outlaw by the Saudi regime, which stripped him of his nationality and put a price on his head. His loyalty to the word of the Koran and his conscience had cost him his home, and reduced him to a common bandit as far as his old circles in Saudi Arabia were concerned.

In the Sudan Usamah managed to expand his business interests considerably, and he continued his Jihad bankrolling. Always keeping a careful eye on ethical considerations, he made sure to only bankroll just causes, putting money on the underdog and the concept of right V might:

Chechnya. Here the Russians have sought to destroy all hope of Chechnian independance, but as usual bin Laden is involved, helping fund the Chechen guerrila fighters against the superior enemy. A noble cause.

Muslim Bosnians against the Serb overseers. Despite the justness of this cause, the US interfered, arresting the fighters he sent to help the cause of freedom against oppression. Nonetheless, bin Laden had a big impact there, as he does everywhere.

Palestine. bin Laden has always been outraged by the plight of the Palestinians. At a young age he came under the tutilege of a Palestininian man, Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, who was once a confidant of Yasser Arafat but had become disenchanted with the PLO. Some Usamah became intertwined with Palestinian politics and the cause.

Yemen. Usamah has long had links to the Yemen Wahhabi cause. He has also been involved in the struggle there - the bombing of the USS Cole was possibly an example of this (unlike the WTC, this bombing fits bin Laden's MO - the target was military, not involving innocent civilians.

Everyone of these causes was Just and right, and it is no wonder that Usamah's reputation only grew and prospered during this period ? and no wonder that an assassination attempt was made at this time, though he escaped with only some injuries.

AFGHANISTAN ONCE MORE

In 1996 Usamah moved permanently back to Afghanistan. In despair at the terrible situation in both Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, he sought a more traditional and devout setting. After Saudi Arabia decided to imprison Islamic scholars and hundreds of Mujahideen youths, after the rape of the Holy Land by the West and the occupation of the two Holy Places by American troops, Usamah decided to make a stand. He issued his first Bayan, or statement, 'A Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places'. This document was seminal, and simple ? a lucid warning instructing the Americans to leave the land of the two Holy Places or face military attack from the Mujahideen, the same Mujahideen that defeated the largest superpower in the world under his tutelage some few years before in Afghanistan.

"Muslims burn with anger at America. For its own good, America should leave [Saudi Arabia]."

Usamah is still in Afghanistan to this day. Despite the total lack of any evidence (The US claims to have evidence, but with it's usual broohaha is prepared to go to war rather than publically release it. It is so convincing they will give it to allies but not to the Taleban, from whom they expect an extradition with no evidence at all) relating him to the recent WTC attacks, he is castigated worldwide for this devilish act. Usamah may be no friend of the United States, and with good reason, but he has no record of attacking innocent civilian targets. He is an honourable man and an honourable fighter, with a long, proud record of fighting for the oppressed (but right) underdog.

So why must he die?

Because he must be martyred. It is my belief that Usamah has reached his peak. Already approaching his 50's, he can't continue his brave fight against Western imperialism forever. Already he is weakening, his judgement is failing and his body shrivels. Every Muslim who dies in Jihad is guaranteed a place in Heaven, and Usamah, in dying, can both guarantee his own elevation and strike a blow against the western imperial forces trying to paint him as some sort of extremist. If he martyrs himself, a thousand new and young Usamahs will be inspired by his legend and continue the good fight, and the truth about bin Laden will spread around the world, and so the simple peoples of this globe will hear of his valiant life and fight. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics, western opinion was outraged, and President Jimmy Carter embargoed all exports to the Soviet Union. Contrary to popular belief, the USA did not funnel military or financial support to the Mujahideen, however. In this interview bin Laden recalls "Personally neither I nor my brothers saw evidence of American help", so we see that the Americans were all mouth but had no guts. Now that America has, with it's usual hypocricy, decided to attack Afghanistan, it is clear that Usama must take risks to ensure maximum damage is applied to the enemy.

WHAT USAMAH MUST DO

Firstly he must provide tantalising glimpses of himself, drawing the Americans into Afghanistan. He must make sure the common people of Afghanistan understand that the Americans are out to culturally reprogram the Afghanis, one of the last pure peoples of the Earth. He must extract maximum damage upon the enemy in exchange for his own life. No superpower, however strong, can, once entered, come out of Afghanistan with honour. Hopefully the plight of Afghanistan and the indiscriminate killing of civilians that will occur there will reignite the Wahhabi cause throughout the Arab world, but especially in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. There is a great, noble chance here for the Middle East to be reawakened in its old image.

Usamah made Afghanistan in his own image, it is thanks to his influence that it has steered a course away from the brutality and violence of communism, towards the status of a pure Muslim state. The Taliban, unlike the governments of Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia, is not corrupted by Western influence, and will not hand him over. The West knows it has a resolute enemy. Even in the unlikely even that they did decide to hand him over, they would be unnable to, and surely the Afghans would revolt and a new revolution would be needed.

The likelihood is that they shall be true to the tenets of Islam, and not hand over Usamah. Then, the US and other Western allies will be forced to invade Afghanistan, where they will meet a bloody end. Usamah must sacrifice himself in the process, for it is the best way of guaranteeing his place in heaven and exacting maximum pain upon the enemy.

It is my fervent hope that bin Laden realise his death is called for, that his own death is a weapon he can use far more powerful than any bomb. The legend will burn out brightly.

And what does slashdot have ? - Screensavers.

Usamah was born in 1957 in Riyadh. His father took many wifes, and young Usamah was born to one of the last and least respected of them. He was the 17th son of a reported 50 sired by Mohammed. Mohammed's brother and partner sired 50 more, making the bin Laden clan and influence huge. The fact that Usamah came to outshine them all is a testament to his innate genius.

Usamah as a young boy, on holiday in Sweden aged 14. His 'pale good looks' shone through already. Click here to view.

Earliest direct evidences of Usamah himself this reporter could track down are recollections by an old teacher, Brian Fyfield-Shayler. In 1969, whilst his decadent western peers were guzzling drugs and descending into an orgy of self, the callow bin Laden, just 13, was studying hard at Al-Thaghr, a school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia modelled on the English public school system. Mr Fyfield-Shayler said (in this respected news source) "I remember him as quiet, retiring and rather shy. He was very courteous - more so than any of the others in his class. Physically, he was outstanding because he was taller, more handsome and fairer than most of the other boys. He also stood out as he was singularly gracious and polite, and had a great deal of inner confidence. He was very neat, very precise and very conscientious."

There can be no doubt that Usamah, an ordinary and pious young man, was deeply affected by his family's involvement in rebuilding the two holy Mosques in Mekkah and Madinah. We have already heard that his early teacher thought him a confident but reflective individual, so we shouldn't be surprised if he felt great pride that his family was involved in raising the glory of Allah in such spiritually significant places.

Throughout the 1970's Usamah spent his time studying and working for the family business. Doubtless he kept an eye on current affairs ? the disgraceful behaviour of Israel and America during this period is remarkable ? but he was determined to get his degree and be a credit to his family. In 1979 he graduated from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in Civil Engineering.

BEGINNING OF THE LEGEND

Usamah as a handsome young man in the Mujahideen. Shortly after young Usamah graduated, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up the failing Communist regime. The Mujahideen put out an international call for help, and Usamah was inspired to leave the dusty world of commerce for more noble pursuits. He packed himself and several family bulldozers off to Afghanistan, and later was quoted as saying "In our religion, there is a special place in the Hereafter for those who participate in Jihad. One day in Afghanistan was like 1000 days of praying in an ordinary mosque."

Usamah made a huge difference to the Mujahideen. At first he was an effective politician and strategist. He recruited thousands of Arab fighters in the Gulf, paid for their passage to Afghanistan, and set up camps to train them. He designed defences along the Pakistani border, driving a bulldozer himself and taking great risks from Soviet helicopter gunship strafings as a result. Such was the personal stake he felt that before long he had taken up a Kalashnikov and was fighting on the front personally. This personal touch emerged again in 1986 when he and a few dozen Arab helpers fought off a Soviet onslaught in a small town called Jaji, near the Pakistani border. This ignited the Afghani resolve, as it was the first example that the Russians could actually be beaten. Just twelve months later he turned the tide of the Afghanistan war with a brilliant offensive against Soviet troops in the battle of Shaban. The Mujahideen suffered heavy casualties in the vicious, heavy fighting, but thanks to bin Laden's superb generalship the Soviets were pushed out of the area for good and the end was in sight for the Communists.

Hamza Mohammed, a Palestinian volunteer in Afghanistan, recalls "He was a hero to us because he was always on the Front Line, always moving ahead of everyone else. He not only gave his money, but he also gave himself. He came down from his palace to live with the Afghan peasants and the Arab fighters. He cooked with them, ate with them, dug trenches with them. That was Bin Laden's way."

By the late 1980's Usamah had established himself as a legend across all Afghanistan. It was at this time that his close personal friendship with the Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar began. The Wahhabi brand of Islam they both share is somewhat similar to Protestantism, but in an Islamic context, and they are both very spiritual men. To this day they take reflective fishing trips in the backlands of their country, such is their binding friendship. Where the rest of the Islamic world has been corrupted by decadent Western ways, the Wahhabis stick to traditional Islam as taught in the Koran. They are amongst the very holiest and most pious of Muslims, their creed established in Saudi Arabia, to an extent, and also Afghanistan, which though not strictly a Wahhabi state is very closely modelled on one. A measure of his piety is that he selflessly rejected an offer from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to expand the Prophet's mosque in Medinah. This cosy little deal would have pocketed Usamah a lovely $90 million, but he refused as he correctly recognised it as an attempt to lure him from Jihad against the communists.

RETURN TO THE HOMELAND

Usamah today, careworn and wise with experience. Usamah returned to Saudi Arabia in the late eighties, a celebrity throughout the Muslim world. Convinced by the words of the holy Koran, Usamah soon set aside his own personal, selfish best interests and began to campaign for the Saudi government to introduce Shariah (Islamic Law) and reduce its terrible corruption, an offence to Allah in the land of Mekkah. Although this was to get him into trouble with the corrupt authorities on several occasions, the real shakedown occurred when King Fahd decided to allow Western troops in the Kingdom during the Gulf War. Usamah criticised the Saudi regime for this terrible decision, and was promptly hounded with a harassment campaign. Before long, in 1991, he fled to the Sudan, and shortly afterwards was declared an outlaw by the Saudi regime, which stripped him of his nationality and put a price on his head. His loyalty to the word of the Koran and his conscience had cost him his home, and reduced him to a common bandit as far as his old circles in Saudi Arabia were concerned.

In the Sudan Usamah managed to expand his business interests considerably, and he continued his Jihad bankrolling. Always keeping a careful eye on ethical considerations, he made sure to only bankroll just causes, putting money on the underdog and the concept of right V might:

Chechnya. Here the Russians have sought to destroy all hope of Chechnian independance, but as usual bin Laden is involved, helping fund the Chechen guerrila fighters against the superior enemy. A noble cause.

Muslim Bosnians against the Serb overseers. Despite the justness of this cause, the US interfered, arresting the fighters he sent to help the cause of freedom against oppression. Nonetheless, bin Laden had a big impact there, as he does everywhere.

Palestine. bin Laden has always been outraged by the plight of the Palestinians. At a young age he came under the tutilege of a Palestininian man, Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, who was once a confidant of Yasser Arafat but had become disenchanted with the PLO. Some Usamah became intertwined with Palestinian politics and the cause.

Yemen. Usamah has long had links to the Yemen Wahhabi cause. He has also been involved in the struggle there - the bombing of the USS Cole was possibly an example of this (unlike the WTC, this bombing fits bin Laden's MO - the target was military, not involving innocent civilians.

Everyone of these causes was Just and right, and it is no wonder that Usamah's reputation only grew and prospered during this period ? and no wonder that an assassination attempt was made at this time, though he escaped with only some injuries.

AFGHANISTAN ONCE MORE

In 1996 Usamah moved permanently back to Afghanistan. In despair at the terrible situation in both Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, he sought a more traditional and devout setting. After Saudi Arabia decided to imprison Islamic scholars and hundreds of Mujahideen youths, after the rape of the Holy Land by the West and the occupation of the two Holy Places by American troops, Usamah decided to make a stand. He issued his first Bayan, or statement, 'A Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places'. This document was seminal, and simple ? a lucid warning instructing the Americans to leave the land of the two Holy Places or face military attack from the Mujahideen, the same Mujahideen that defeated the largest superpower in the world under his tutelage some few years before in Afghanistan.

"Muslims burn with anger at America. For its own good, America should leave [Saudi Arabia]."

Usamah is still in Afghanistan to this day. Despite the total lack of any evidence (The US claims to have evidence, but with it's usual broohaha is prepared to go to war rather than publically release it. It is so convincing they will give it to allies but not to the Taleban, from whom they expect an extradition with no evidence at all) relating him to the recent WTC attacks, he is castigated worldwide for this devilish act. Usamah may be no friend of the United States, and with good reason, but he has no record of attacking innocent civilian targets. He is an honourable man and an honourable fighter, with a long, proud record of fighting for the oppressed (but right) underdog.

So why must he die?

Because he must be martyred. It is my belief that Usamah has reached his peak. Already approaching his 50's, he can't continue his brave fight against Western imperialism forever. Already he is weakening, his judgement is failing and his body shrivels. Every Muslim who dies in Jihad is guaranteed a place in Heaven, and Usamah, in dying, can both guarantee his own elevation and strike a blow against the western imperial forces trying to paint him as some sort of extremist. If he martyrs himself, a thousand new and young Usamahs will be inspired by his legend and continue the good fight, and the truth about bin Laden will spread around the world, and so the simple peoples of this globe will hear of his valiant life and fight. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics, western opinion was outraged, and President Jimmy Carter embargoed all exports to the Soviet Union. Contrary to popular belief, the USA did not funnel military or financial support to the Mujahideen, however. In this interview bin Laden recalls "Personally neither I nor my brothers saw evidence of American help", so we see that the Americans were all mouth but had no guts. Now that America has, with it's usual hypocricy, decided to attack Afghanistan, it is clear that Usama must take risks to ensure maximum damage is applied to the enemy.

WHAT USAMAH MUST DO

Firstly he must provide tantalising glimpses of himself, drawing the Americans into Afghanistan. He must make sure the common people of Afghanistan understand that the Americans are out to culturally reprogram the Afghanis, one of the last pure peoples of the Earth. He must extract maximum damage upon the enemy in exchange for his own life. No superpower, however strong, can, once entered, come out of Afghanistan with honour. Hopefully the plight of Afghanistan and the indiscriminate killing of civilians that will occur there will reignite the Wahhabi cause throughout the Arab world, but especially in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. There is a great, noble chance here for the Middle East to be reawakened in its old image.

Usamah made Afghanistan in his own image, it is thanks to his influence that it has steered a course away from the brutality and violence of communism, towards the status of a pure Muslim state. The Taliban, unlike the governments of Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia, is not corrupted by Western influence, and will not hand him over. The West knows it has a resolute enemy. Even in the unlikely even that they did decide to hand him over, they would be unnable to, and surely the Afghans would revolt and a new revolution would be needed.

The likelihood is that they shall be true to the tenets of Islam, and not hand over Usamah. Then, the US and other Western allies will be forced to invade Afghanistan, where they will meet a bloody end. Usamah must sacrifice himself in the process, for it is the best way of guaranteeing his place in heaven and exacting maximum pain upon the enemy.

Usamah was born in 1957 in Riyadh. His father took many wifes, and young Usamah was born to one of the last and least respected of them. He was the 17th son of a reported 50 sired by Mohammed. Mohammed's brother and partner sired 50 more, making the bin Laden clan and influence huge. The fact that Usamah came to outshine them all is a testament to his innate genius.

Usamah as a young boy, on holiday in Sweden aged 14. His 'pale good looks' shone through already. Click here to view.

Earliest direct evidences of Usamah himself this reporter could track down are recollections by an old teacher, Brian Fyfield-Shayler. In 1969, whilst his decadent western peers were guzzling drugs and descending into an orgy of self, the callow bin Laden, just 13, was studying hard at Al-Thaghr, a school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia modelled on the English public school system. Mr Fyfield-Shayler said (in this respected news source) "I remember him as quiet, retiring and rather shy. He was very courteous - more so than any of the others in his class. Physically, he was outstanding because he was taller, more handsome and fairer than most of the other boys. He also stood out as he was singularly gracious and polite, and had a great deal of inner confidence. He was very neat, very precise and very conscientious."

There can be no doubt that Usamah, an ordinary and pious young man, was deeply affected by his family's involvement in rebuilding the two holy Mosques in Mekkah and Madinah. We have already heard that his early teacher thought him a confident but reflective individual, so we shouldn't be surprised if he felt great pride that his family was involved in raising the glory of Allah in such spiritually significant places.

Throughout the 1970's Usamah spent his time studying and working for the family business. Doubtless he kept an eye on current affairs ? the disgraceful behaviour of Israel and America during this period is remarkable ? but he was determined to get his degree and be a credit to his family. In 1979 he graduated from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in Civil Engineering.

BEGINNING OF THE LEGEND

Usamah as a handsome young man in the Mujahideen. Shortly after young Usamah graduated, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up the failing Communist regime. The Mujahideen put out an international call for help, and Usamah was inspired to leave the dusty world of commerce for more noble pursuits. He packed himself and several family bulldozers off to Afghanistan, and later was quoted as saying "In our religion, there is a special place in the Hereafter for those who participate in Jihad. One day in Afghanistan was like 1000 days of praying in an ordinary mosque."

Usamah made a huge difference to the Mujahideen. At first he was an effective politician and strategist. He recruited thousands of Arab fighters in the Gulf, paid for their passage to Afghanistan, and set up camps to train them. He designed defences along the Pakistani border, driving a bulldozer himself and taking great risks from Soviet helicopter gunship strafings as a result. Such was the personal stake he felt that before long he had taken up a Kalashnikov and was fighting on the front personally. This personal touch emerged again in 1986 when he and a few dozen Arab helpers fought off a Soviet onslaught in a small town called Jaji, near the Pakistani border. This ignited the Afghani resolve, as it was the first example that the Russians could actually be beaten. Just twelve months later he turned the tide of the Afghanistan war with a brilliant offensive against Soviet troops in the battle of Shaban. The Mujahideen suffered heavy casualties in the vicious, heavy fighting, but thanks to bin Laden's superb generalship the Soviets were pushed out of the area for good and the end was in sight for the Communists.

Hamza Mohammed, a Palestinian volunteer in Afghanistan, recalls "He was a hero to us because he was always on the Front Line, always moving ahead of everyone else. He not only gave his money, but he also gave himself. He came down from his palace to live with the Afghan peasants and the Arab fighters. He cooked with them, ate with them, dug trenches with them. That was Bin Laden's way."

By the late 1980's Usamah had established himself as a legend across all Afghanistan. It was at this time that his close personal friendship with the Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar began. The Wahhabi brand of Islam they both share is somewhat similar to Protestantism, but in an Islamic context, and they are both very spiritual men. To this day they take reflective fishing trips in the backlands of their country, such is their binding friendship. Where the rest of the Islamic world has been corrupted by decadent Western ways, the Wahhabis stick to traditional Islam as taught in the Koran. They are amongst the very holiest and most pious of Muslims, their creed established in Saudi Arabia, to an extent, and also Afghanistan, which though not strictly a Wahhabi state is very closely modelled on one. A measure of his piety is that he selflessly rejected an offer from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to expand the Prophet's mosque in Medinah. This cosy little deal would have pocketed Usamah a lovely $90 million, but he refused as he correctly recognised it as an attempt to lure him from Jihad against the communists.

RETURN TO THE HOMELAND

Usamah today, careworn and wise with experience. Usamah returned to Saudi Arabia in the late eighties, a celebrity throughout the Muslim world. Convinced by the words of the holy Koran, Usamah soon set aside his own personal, selfish best interests and began to campaign for the Saudi government to introduce Shariah (Islamic Law) and reduce its terrible corruption, an offence to Allah in the land of Mekkah. Although this was to get him into trouble with the corrupt authorities on several occasions, the real shakedown occurred when King Fahd decided to allow Western troops in the Kingdom during the Gulf War. Usamah criticised the Saudi regime for this terrible decision, and was promptly hounded with a harassment campaign. Before long, in 1991, he fled to the Sudan, and shortly afterwards was declared an outlaw by the Saudi regime, which stripped him of his nationality and put a price on his head. His loyalty to the word of the Koran and his conscience had cost him his home, and reduced him to a common bandit as far as his old circles in Saudi Arabia were concerned.

In the Sudan Usamah managed to expand his business interests considerably, and he continued his Jihad bankrolling. Always keeping a careful eye on ethical considerations, he made sure to only bankroll just causes, putting money on the underdog and the concept of right V might:

Chechnya. Here the Russians have sought to destroy all hope of Chechnian independance, but as usual bin Laden is involved, helping fund the Chechen guerrila fighters against the superior enemy. A noble cause.

Muslim Bosnians against the Serb overseers. Despite the justness of this cause, the US interfered, arresting the fighters he sent to help the cause of freedom against oppression. Nonetheless, bin Laden had a big impact there, as he does everywhere.

Palestine. bin Laden has always been outraged by the plight of the Palestinians. At a young age he came under the tutilege of a Palestininian man, Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, who was once a confidant of Yasser Arafat but had become disenchanted with the PLO. Some Usamah became intertwined with Palestinian politics and the cause.

Yemen. Usamah has long had links to the Yemen Wahhabi cause. He has also been involved in the struggle there - the bombing of the USS Cole was possibly an example of this (unlike the WTC, this bombing fits bin Laden's MO - the target was military, not involving innocent civilians.

Everyone of these causes was Just and right, and it is no wonder that Usamah's reputation only grew and prospered during this period ? and no wonder that an assassination attempt was made at this time, though he escaped with only some injuries.

AFGHANISTAN ONCE MORE

In 1996 Usamah moved permanently back to Afghanistan. In despair at the terrible situation in both Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, he sought a more traditional and devout setting. After Saudi Arabia decided to imprison Islamic scholars and hundreds of Mujahideen youths, after the rape of the Holy Land by the West and the occupation of the two Holy Places by American troops, Usamah decided to make a stand. He issued his first Bayan, or statement, 'A Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places'. This document was seminal, and simple ? a lucid warning instructing the Americans to leave the land of the two Holy Places or face military attack from the Mujahideen, the same Mujahideen that defeated the largest superpower in the world under his tutelage some few years before in Afghanistan.

"Muslims burn with anger at America. For its own good, America should leave [Saudi Arabia]."

Usamah is still in Afghanistan to this day. Despite the total lack of any evidence (The US claims to have evidence, but with it's usual broohaha is prepared to go to war rather than publically release it. It is so convincing they will give it to allies but not to the Taleban, from whom they expect an extradition with no evidence at all) relating him to the recent WTC attacks, he is castigated worldwide for this devilish act. Usamah may be no friend of the United States, and with good reason, but he has no record of attacking innocent civilian targets. He is an honourable man and an honourable fighter, with a long, proud record of fighting for the oppressed (but right) underdog.

So why must he die?

Because he must be martyred. It is my belief that Usamah has reached his peak. Already approaching his 50's, he can't continue his brave fight against Western imperialism forever. Already he is weakening, his judgement is failing and his body shrivels. Every Muslim who dies in Jihad is guaranteed a place in Heaven, and Usamah, in dying, can both guarantee his own elevation and strike a blow against the western imperial forces trying to paint him as some sort of extremist. If he martyrs himself, a thousand new and young Usamahs will be inspired by his legend and continue the good fight, and the truth about bin Laden will spread around the world, and so the simple peoples of this globe will hear of his valiant life and fight. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics, western opinion was outraged, and President Jimmy Carter embargoed all exports to the Soviet Union. Contrary to popular belief, the USA did not funnel military or financial support to the Mujahideen, however. In this interview bin Laden recalls "Personally neither I nor my brothers saw evidence of American help", so we see that the Americans were all mouth but had no guts. Now that America has, with it's usual hypocricy, decided to attack Afghanistan, it is clear that Usama must take risks to ensure maximum damage is applied to the enemy.

WHAT USAMAH MUST DO

Firstly he must provide tantalising glimpses of himself, drawing the Americans into Afghanistan. He must make sure the common people of Afghanistan understand that the Americans are out to culturally reprogram the Afghanis, one of the last pure peoples of the Earth. He must extract maximum damage upon the enemy in exchange for his own life. No superpower, however strong, can, once entered, come out of Afghanistan with honour. Hopefully the plight of Afghanistan and the indiscriminate killing of civilians that will occur there will reignite the Wahhabi cause throughout the Arab world, but especially in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. There is a great, noble chance here for the Middle East to be reawakened in its old image.

Usamah made Afghanistan in his own image, it is thanks to his influence that it has steered a course away from the brutality and violence of communism, towards the status of a pure Muslim state. The Taliban, unlike the governments of Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia, is not corrupted by Western influence, and will not hand him over. The West knows it has a resolute enemy. Even in the unlikely even that they did decide to hand him over, they would be unnable to, and surely the Afghans would revolt and a new revolution would be needed.

The likelihood is that they shall be true to the tenets of Islam, and not hand over Usamah. Then, the US and other Western allies will be forced to invade Afghanistan, where they will meet a bloody end. Usamah must sacrifice himself in the process, for it is the best way of guaranteeing his place in heaven and exacting maximum pain upon the enemy.

Its also impossible to troll there, so you get a better signal/noise ratio than here at slashdot.

Meanwhile, with geekazoid out of action, where else is there ? Not Kuro5Wank surely ?