Jihad Goes Better With al-Coke
More discoveries from Osama’s Pakistan resort…
As Osama bin Laden watched his terrorist organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that al-Qaida was suffering from a marketing problem. His group was killing too many Muslims and that was bad for business. The West was winning the public relations fight. All his old comrades were dead and he barely knew their replacements.
Faced with these challenges, bin Laden, who hated the United States and decried capitalism, considered a most American of business strategies. Like Blackwater, ValuJet and Philip Morris, perhaps what al-Qaida really needed was a fresh start under a new name.
In case you’re wondering why AirTran Airways (née ValuJet) is on the clever AP writer’s mind, we invite you to revisit ValuJet Flight 592.
Terror by any other name: Osama eyed name change [AP]
I have a photo of myself, taken in Bethlehem last year, holding a can of Coke with Arabic lettering. Will post if I can find it.
@Dodgerblue: Started smoking again in Tel Aviv in 1997 – bought a pack of Winstons marked up in Hebrew alphabet.
@FlyingChainSaw: You smoke? I had no idea.
ADD: Tonight’s fun game: NPR host name generator:
I’m Chloe Ulaby-Gupta.
@SanFranLefty: There’s a reporter working for Oregon Public Radio named Kristian Foden-Vencil. An English guy. I think he has a great future ahead of him.
@SanFranLefty: Ha! I’m Malika Long-Beardsley. I do have this errant hair growing at warp speed in an area I’d rather not have it grow. If it invites friends, Imma cry.
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