STEVEN CHAPMAN, who along with Jim Henley is filling the intelligent-critic-of-the-war niche that has been left so spectacularly vacant by the “Eric A. Blair” crowd, has an interesting debate going on about the importance of capturing Osama bin Laden.

I’m all for cutting off the snake’s head. But personally, I’ve long been skeptical that Osama is at the root of all this. I think he’s a tool. I think the Saudis are behind it, running a cold (and sometimes hot) war against us with cooperation from various other governments and groups in the region. I think this has been going on for a long time, and that considerable effort will be needed to shut it down.