Bin Laden is still provoking the world, hiding somewhere, sending some obscure bands with encouragement of holy war to retake Jerusalem (yes, still Swedish news). He's been hiding for 7 years without even been spotted by the coalition forces. So is there someone we can compare him with? I would say the closest historical person would be Hannibal Barcas.
I don't claim he is a super tactical genius or a brave commander standing side by side with his troops, but more how the symbolism he represents the Muslims that follows him. A leader that gives a horrible blow to the mighty nation USA, could be something similar to the Battle of Cannae for Hannibal. This gave the Romans a deadly fear for one man. The battle didn't lead to total victory, but it showed the Romans that they could be defeated. They were not untouchable.
Exiled after the battle in northern Africa he traveled the Mediterranean without goal, and as far the story goes took poison before he was caught by the Romans. This will probably be the likely fate of Bin Laden and here the comparison ends. The Americans will never see Bin Laden as the great adversary due to the simple fact that he haven't defeated them in a so called "noble battle". To the Romans, Hannibal was seen as the greatest enemy of all time and they even builded statues of him in different streets and cities in his memory. I hope and doubt that Bin Laden ever will get a statue in the US.
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