One of the clues was the change in White House rhetoric early this month. After years of shying away from mentioning bin Laden’s name, they suddenly started mentioning his name at every chance they got.

Then, Bush started downplaying the capture (or killing) of bin Laden. In one speech he said capturing (killing) bin Laden wasn’t that big a deal, but his administration would continue to go after al Qaeda. People noticed that Bush seemed to be flip-flopping once again, but it makes sense if reports of bin Laden’s death had reached the White House in early September.

Then, Musharraf of Pakistan apparently called off the hunt for bin Laden in the tribal areas of Pakistan where bin Laden supposedly has been hiding. Musharraf signed a truce with the tribal elders there and pulled Pakistani troops out. Once again, it only makes since if bin Laden’s “verifiably” dead. Plus, Musharraf just said the other day that his pulling the troops out didn’t mean he wasn’t still intent on stopping the Taliban or any al Qaeda in that area, but no mention of bin Laden.

Therefore, odds are that this was the October surprise Karl Rove was crowing about the other day, but a French newspaper beat the Republican Party to the punch.

Bin Laden must have died in late August and probably from “typhoid fever” as reported by Saudi intelligence, with his kidney problems also contributing to his death.

The Bush administration then ordered all the governments “in on” this little secret to keep quiet until Bush officially made the announcement in October, but (thank God) some French newspaper stole Bush’s thunder.

In other words, apparently typhoid fever did something that the hapless Bush administration failed to do in five years (including at Tora Bora)…kill the religious mobster, Osama bin Laden.

The only machine that can stop them now is the military machine and let’s hope that it does.