Rumsfeld sort of says something. Or maybe not.

Pried away from the urgency of changing the Pentagon's outdated filing system, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Afghanistan and boldly declared that Osama bin Laden could be dead, might be alive, is not fully in charge, or might be in command.

[Rumsfeld] doubts that Osama bin Laden, if alive, is still in full command of al Qaeda, news reports said. The secretary said he finds it "interesting that we haven't heard from him in ... close to a year."

"I suspect that in any event, if he's alive and functioning, that he's probably spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught," reporters quoted Rumsfeld as saying.

"I have trouble believing that he's able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al Qaeda operation, but I could be wrong. We just don't know."

Bonus inanity The American Forces Press Service noted that Rumsfeld had "made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today after touring hurricane-devastated areas of Pakistan."