The Arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Our "top guns" -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller -- have announced that we're winning the "war on terror". I guess they haven't checked the news yet today.

The recent arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is presented as Exhibit A in the victory parade. The interesting thing is that several folks aren't buying the fact that Mohammed's been arrested. He's supposed to be dead, after all. B Raman of the Asia Times explores those pesky truths and half-truths about the arrest, and calls it "a good case study of how not to wage a war on terrorism."

Xymphora, for one, doesn't think they've apprehended the right dude. S/he points to two pictures of Mohammed (pre-arrest; post-arrest), and asks, "Do you think they are the same guy? Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is supposed to be 37 years old and to have has [sic] a reputation as a 'ladies' man' (like Atta, he was another one of these playboy religious fundamentalists). The guy in the picture doesn't look 37 or like a 'ladies' man'."

Interesting Times thinks he does...sorta.