Osama bin Laden :
The "Pancho Villa" of Islam

by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - 1/15/2002 - (ACN) "Villa is everywhere but Villa is nowhere" was the telegraphed message sent to Washington D. C. by General John J. Pershing after failing to capture the elusive and brilliant military strategist of the Mexican Revolution. Pershing and his Punitive Expedition, that included a young lieutenant by the name of George S. Patton, had gone deep into Mexico in search of General Francisco Villa after Villa and about 485 of his "Dorados del Norte" had successfully crossed the U.S./Mexico border and raided the small border town of Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916 to collect a debt owed him by two unscrupulous, in Villa's own words, "judio" (jewish) brothers, Sam and Louis Ravel. The scammers had failed to deliver arms, ammunition and supplies they had been paid for with gold bars. The U.S. Army Punitive Expedition consisting of 10,000 troops went as far south as Parral, Chihuahua but gave up catching General Villa after an 11 month search. General Villa, "El Tigere del Norte", proved too evasive for John "Black Jack" Pershing. General Francisco Villa knew every rock, every stream, every cave, and every cactus of the immense sierra of Chihuahua.

Today, we are hearing similar accounts concerning the search for Osama bin Laden by the U.S. Special Forces expedition into Afghanistan under the command of General Tommy Franks. Yesterday General Franks as well as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sent a message to President George Bush that they believe that Osama bin Laden has managed to escape. The message by the CIA said that Osama bin Laden may not be in Afghanistan or in Pakistan and that he may have escaped by sea. Like Pancho Villa, it looks like Osama bin Laden has outsmarted the U.S. military generals. Reports now being broadcast by the mainstream media say that Osama bin Laden fooled the CIA and Special Forces by "planting" videos as well as Osama bin Laden voice tape recordings that were used by Taliban soldiers over "cellular phone" communications to make the CIA think that he was at a certain location when in fact he was somewhere else. General Villa utilized similar tactics to fool Pershing. Pershing and the U.S. Punitive Expedition were chasing phantom Villas all over Chihuahua and finally became exhausted and gave up. His last telegraph to Woodrow Wilson was "Villa is everywhere but Villa is nowhere".

There are other uncanny similarities between Osama bin Laden and Francisco Villa. Both are revered by the common people of each respective community. Both are seen as Robin Hoods by the poor and oppressed. Both were construction contractors at one time in their lives. Francisco Villa was a general contractor on the construction of the railroad through Chihuahua's majestic Copper Canyon. Both Osama bin Laden and General Francisco Villa were indirectly fighting those whom they perceived to be lackeys of the United States. General Villa was fighting Venustanio Carranza, who had a cozy "sellout" relationship with Woodrow Wilson, and Osama bin Laden is fighting the Saudi Royalty who have a very cozy relationship with US oil interests to the detriment of the overall disenfranchised Arab population.

The U.S. military expedition to capture Francisco Villa was doomed to failure because Pershing and his Punitive Expedition where unfamiliar with the territory, were up against a very clever military genius, and were operating within a very hostile local population who had come to see the revolutionary as a folk hero and national symbol of defying America. General Francisco Villa was seen by Mexicans as a clear winner, emerging triumphant from a battle with the powerful United States and assumed legendary status that endures till this day. It certainly appears today, that Osama bin Laden is headed for the very same legendary and folk hero status in Islam.