twist of fait accomplis

There's still talk that bin Laden and al-Qaeda may be communicating via pornographic images on the Web. Though I still haven't any concrete evidence this is happening, I realized: those terrorist folk are mighty smart.

Encoding messages in images is kind of a cool idea, but not terribly new or amazing. What is cool: they're doing it in porn. Never before has the world of naked women been so accessible for Muslim extremists!

Imagine: you're a terrorist and you're at work in the top-secret al-Qaeda headquarters. Your boss comes over to you and taps you on the shoulder. "Young man," he says, "Why are you reading the Qu'ran online? Stop wasting time. You know what you should be doing." You nod and dutifully load up www.hotchicksinleather.com on your browser. After a few clicks, you're checking out the "Bondage Delight" photo gallery, searching for new communication from al-Qaeda in the field.

Better yet: you're a terrorist and have just come home from a hard day's work. You sit down at your computer, check your e-mail, and bring up www.sexyamputeebabes.com in IE. You feel a tap on your shoulder. Your wife is behind you, staring at you with a look of frustration. Any other husband would be worried about getting caught downloading porn, but not you. You're a terrorist. Your wife is upset that you're bringing your work home with you. "Please," she pleads, "can't you come to dinner now? Work can wait."

Ahhh... the life of a terrorist: all the porn you can handle, chalked up to "time at the office."