via Sullivan: Osama's Dead?

When I was reading Sullivan's Blog to see if he had commented on the newly leaked NIE that is so devastating to Iraq War supporters, I happened upon a couple of compelling posts that I had to pass on. First, in a post titled "The Apocalypse in Iraq," we have the following picture:
Ummm, yeah... "Apocalypse" sounds about right. For those not in the know, that's Muqtada Al Sadr, a man responsible for the deaths of many Americans and currently a Shiite political powerhouse in Iraq, although he is not a literal member of the government.

Then there's this post, relating to Rove's October Surprise:

First we read this:

According to two conservative websites, White House political strategist Karl Rove has been promising GOP insiders that there will be an "October surprise" before the midterm elections.

"In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an 'October surprise' to help win the November congressional elections," reports Ronald Kessler for Newsmax.

The we hear this:

The daily newspaper for the Lorraine region in eastern France printed what it described as a confidential document from the French foreign intelligence service DGSE citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

The contents of the document, dated Sept. 21, or Thursday, were not confirmed by French or other intelligence sources. However, the DGSE transmitted the note to President Jacques Chirac and other officials, the newspaper said.

Hmmmm. Of course, we know how bin Laden really died.

I had heard that Osama may well be dead, of Typhoid Fever of all things, and it hit me hard. If this is Rove's October surprise, then he has badly miscalculated, because I think America's reaction to the news of his natural death will be characterized overwhelmingly by rage, especially when the Democrats start saying things like this: "Osama didn't deserve a natural death. He deserved the be scattered to the winds by one of our bombs, or executed in one of our jails. Bush let him get away when we had him in our sights, so that he could move the forces to Iraq. He let Osama get away so that he could fight a war that had nothing to do with 9/11, WMDs, or bringing Democracy to the Middle East. Bush let Osama get away so that he could start a war that is making us all less safe. It is positively infuriating that this towering evil of a man was allowed to die in peace."