Happy 50th Birthday Osama bin Laden!

If Osama bin Laden is actually alive, he celebrates his 50th birthday today. "Friends in the Taliban prayed for his long life. The al-Qaida leader’s long silence has fueled speculation that the world’s most-wanted fugitive may have died, though many in the international intelligence community reckon Islamist militant Web sites would circulate word of his death."

According to Reuters, "a long silence [since then] has fueled rumors that bin Laden is unwell, or dead, though the United States fears that the al-Qaida network he founded is rebuilding its base in Pakistani tribal lands, and has forged ties with affiliates in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East."

The United States has a longstanding offer of a $25 million reward for any information leading to the arrest or death of bin Laden, but leads on his whereabouts have been almost non-existent. Can one of you attorneys also explain to me how you can offer $25M for the death of someone....without even so much as an indictment? How does presumptive innocence figure into that?

---o0o---