Refocus?

The so-called Blind Sheik,  Omar Abdel-Rahman, is reportedly very ill indeed, bleeding internally and needing emergency treatment. The FBI has sent around a warning that there might be reprisals should he die. He called for reprisals against the US if he should die in US custody.

Although the FBI said there is no credible indication that a plan for retribution is in place, the agency sent the warning as Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman was treated in Missouri for bleeding.

The blind sheik, who was the alleged architect of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, has called for revenge should he die in U.S. custody.

Bill Rosenau, a terror expert with RAND Corp, says that the death of Rahman is likely to raise his status to that of a martyr and refocus interest on the United States among radical Islamists. He says Rahman has been a lightning rod for years and his incarceration in the United States highlights the difficult problem of keeping terrorists incarcerated on American soil.

"Usama bin Laden has talked frequently about him and repeatedly expressed his interest in seeing him free. He has been a lightning rod for jihadists for a decade," Rosenau said.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but what exactly have the jihadis been focusing on up until now? They may not have struck here in five years, but I don't think their focus ever wavered. No, that's not quite right, either. They actually have been operating here, but in a media campaign that they have been winning with the help of the news media around the world.

It is prudent of the FBI to send a general warning, but not particularly enlightening for the press to trumpet it. In fact, it actually plays into the hands of the media campaign that the jihadis are conducting.

UPDATE: Others: Hang Right Politics, Riehl World View, Redstate, Hot Air, Wake up America, The Jawa Report,  Wizbang, Gina Cobb,