2 Days: Oh yeah, Osama.

The tape released on Friday was Osama Bin Ladens attempt to remind us of what he's capable of, instead, it may have reminded us of what we've help accomplish: "Start with his defensiveness:

The 'emir' who once issued medieval declarations of war against 'Jews and crusaders' and who bankrolled the Taliban's despotism in Afghanistan now feels obliged to protest that he does not 'hate freedom.' To justify his murder of thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 -- a crime for which he now openly takes responsibility -- he cites not his erstwhile platform for Islamic
dictatorship in the Middle East but -- improbably -- Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Something is clearly troubling Osama bin Laden: Could it be the millions of Afghans who eagerly turned out to vote in the country's first democratic elections this month and who overwhelmingly supported the moderate, pro-Western Hamid Karzai for president? Or the growing support for democratic government in Iraq, especially from senior members of the Islamic clergy? Al Qaeda suddenly finds itself on the wrong side of a swelling debate about freedom in the Middle East -- one triggered both by Osama bin Laden's bloody extremism and the powerful U.S. response to it."

Sometimes it takes someone from the 'outside' looking in to see the big picture. Isn't it a good thing that Osama appears to be on the 'outside'? Sure, it will be satisfying to bring Bin Laden to justice - whether through capture or death. But the point this op-ed piece raises can't be ignored. Osama Bin Laden has been marginalized by exposing the people of the middle east to the light of freedom. Just as communism sought to shield it's subjects from the concept of freedom, fundamental Islam has done the same. Letting in the light, opens a lot of minds. Iran may be the next 'Poland' where the people finally say, "Enough is enough!"