Man Close to Bin Laden in Guantanamo

We've caught so many number threes of Al-Qaida, it's a wonder anyone takes the number three job anymore. The latest "major operative" we've caught is Abd al Hadi al-Iraki. He is "close to Bin Laden." Hell, everyone we catch is as close to Bin Laden as his jugular vein ;-) Have you ever heard of this guy? Me neither. I think they just keep dragging up the shaggy looking Middle Eastern men, and tell us they're some bogey-man. Funny how we can catch all this guys near and dear to Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, but we can't catch them. Sounds like a shell game to me. Besides this guy looks like a man in my office before his hair turned gray. Matt is that you?

Would You Buy a Timeshare from Bin Laden?

Well, now you can...sort of...if you qualify. See, the Bin Laden company is a construction concern in Saudi Arabia. That's how Osama made his money, I hear. Anyway, the branch of the family that doesn't live in the Afghanistan - Pakistan border region continues to build things.

Lately, they've built a skyscraper to house a four-story shopping complex and some 1240 apartments just a stone's throw (pun intended) from the Ka'aba which is Islam's holiest place. Some of the apartments will overlook the Ka'aba. The idea is to lease these apartments to muslims who come to Mecca for the Hadj.

The Hadj is a pilgrimage to Mecca that muslims who can should make at least once in their lives. Some three million people visit the city during Ramadan, and some five million during the Hadj. Wouldn't you be willing to timeshare your Persian Gulf condo for one in Mecca during the Hadj? But there's a catch, I hear that you have to be a muslim to even enter the city of Mecca, so that leaves quite a few of us out.