CW FISHER

Like George Bush and Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden has the bully in him. We arrive at this conclusion through a distant rear door, since most of what we know about Osama bin Laden is derived from his actions - September 11, for example. The rest of his story remains just that: story. That's why we have so few bites and b-roll. He wanted it that way.

As to how Osama became a bully, we don't know and it hardly matters. Maybe it was the result of growing up a middle child in a large family. Or the effect of too much leisure time. Or too much money, power and privilege, a dangerous combination we've seen elsewhere. Your guess is as good as the CIA's, and probably better since you probably use more than one source. The CIA consults itself and always comes to the same conclusion, which is drawn by whatever president is in power.

Our central intelligence agency, the one we count on for the heads up, is almost as busy sniping the FBI as they are playing with their toys, people-replacing data-collectors such as satellites that provide fabulously detailed grainy shots of rooftops - revealing a heretofore unknown truth: that humankind, when it comes to roofs, is glaringly unoriginal. Little else beyond that. The contents of these buildings, blame the roofs, is never shown. For that, it's best to have a friend on the ground, somebody who can check it for you, using nonsynthetic eyes and ears, similar to the ones on our heads. "Friends" are things we used to have all over the world.

Osama bin Laden knew about the Western world, was schooled in it, apparently didn't like it, made a decision to destroy it. He made a killing in the terror business, dabbling at first for revenge, then headed a pan-Arabic army of the Angry. This remains the alpha-omega of our knowledge.

We can speculate that this shy and depressed man is likely narcissistic, likely angry at his father, which is likely just garden-variety father-son competition with the heat turned on high, similar to W's psychology. We can guess that Osama enjoyed the adulation of his admirers who called themselves al Qaeda and probably felt accepted into the special club of extremely smelly men who live together in caves launching international plots on shoestring budgets. To understand Osama one must read Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. It's about our only source, unfortunately.