Worth a thousand words?

The media seem fascinated with that picture of the captured Al Qaeda terrorist who looks like an unmade bed. The photo is shown over and over again on the TV news channels, and the New York Daily News has Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's ugly mug front and center on their cover today. It's not like there aren't other photos of this fellow available--"they" occasionally show pictures of him looking wide awake, wearing glasses and a snappy head scarf. But it's the recent picture with the wild hair, the baggy T-shirt, the hairy back, etc., that's become some kind of weird icon. Saturday Night Live even did a skit last weekend in which an actor portraying the terrorist complained bitterly about the photo--which was, of course, on screen the whole time. It's as if we think we can get back at this guy by showing off his ugly picture--which seems a rather infantile response to terrorism.