Corporate symbol?

He comes along at a special time of the year with a long beard and distinctive costume. He has mythical powers. Authority figures use him to scare the naive into behaving the way they want them to. He judges who is naughty and who is nice. He is associated with religion but obviously believing in and celebrating him has nothing to do with religious observance.

People carry out deeds in his name and give him credit. Adults, say they don't believe in him but they still give him credit for powers no man could possibly have.
Osama Bin Laden can no more hurt you in your home than Santa Claus can put presents under a billion trees in one night.

Does it really matter who is wearing the beard and costume?

Santa Claus, the ideal of giving, is good and noble and worthwhile. Santa Claus the commercial icon, Santa Claus the expectation, is a product of corporate advertising and commercialization designed to separate guilty parents from their money and bury them beneath a mountain of glitzy junk produced in China at the behest of American profit centers.

Osama Bin Laden, the criminal, is a man that needs to be brought to justice. Osama Bin Laden, the myth, is a creation of those with a vested interest in war and fear. He is becoming an American corporate symbol for insecurity and fear; the kind of manufactured fear that the gun makers and insurance companies and health care vendors prey upon; the kind of fear and "reptile brain" behavior that has sold millions of vehicles that look like armoured cars and are called "sport utility vehicles"; the kind of fear Gulianni and Thompson are bringing front and center in the GOP.

How long before a man in the Osama suit replaces the Republican Elephant? How long before the Hummer people have their vehicle in war zones chasing "the bad guys". How long before Bin Laden suits replace the ducks and geckos? Not long I'll wager, not long.