Legal Commentary

You've read the reports today that a top al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan was killed by a U.S. missile strike in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan. Al-Qaeda announced it on a web site, along with the usual affirmation that he died Allah's martyr and will be welcomed into paradise.

"We congratulate the Islamic nation on the martyrdom of Sheikh ... Abu Laith al-Libi. May God accept him (as a martyr)," the Ekhlaas.org Web site, without giving further details. It is a great honor in Islam to die as a "martyr".

I don't presume to know what dispositions God might make for the late great shiek, but if I had to place a bet, I'd bet that he ends up in a surprising place.

I'd forgotten about that blast from the past until it suddenly came to mind while reading al-Qaeda's tribute to another apostle of hate. I wonder if fanatical fantasists appreciate irony?