Yes, Carol, Osama still functions to some extent as a re-playable boogeyman to scare the American public...no doubt of that...but he got upstaged bigtime by Saddam...long enough to play out the great Iraq invasion TV miniseries. Saddam is now like Manuel Noriega and Milosevich and other such former heavies in the ongoing drama...a hasbeen. Now I suspect that someone else will soon be starring in a riveting new sequel ("War in---?---"), but Osama will still get to play a bit part now and then, just as you said. He's still useful in that respect.

Bush probably is pretty incompetent, judging by his personal history, but Bush is not the real problem. The people who put him in office are the real problem (and I don't mean...the voters!).