Happy Death Day, Che!

It tickles the Geek's funny bone whenever Fidel Castro launches into a paroxysm of praise accompanied by (crocodile) tears for Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the "exceptional combatant." Today marks the fortieth anniversary of Che's death at the hands of Bolivian troops. Cuba has pulled out the grief stops. See, as one example of the edifying spectacle (there are plenty of others) http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkACLP0VAQzT6D6uEIRp84J-nv9QD8S583NG0.

Fidel gushes, "I halt in my daily combat to bow my head, with respect and gratitude, to the exceptional combatant who fell on the 8th of October 40 years ago." As if that wasn't enough even for an emotional old man, the Maximum Leader adds, "I give him thanks for what he tried to do, and for what he could not do in his country of birth because he was like a flower yanked prematurely from its stem."

Wow! That's enough to make the Geek weep.

Still, the Geek has to blow the whistle on Fidel's play.

Way back then, in the mid-Sixties when Fidel sent Che off on his travelling guerrilla theatrical production with the ostensible end of promoting revolution throughout South America, the "exceptional combatant" had become a pain in the patootie for the Maximum Leader and his little brother, Raul.

Che had become Trotsky to Fidel's Stalin.

Che wanted to export the revolution. Fidel wanted to assure revolutionary permanence in Cuba. Internal political considerations prevented Fidel from taking the Stalinist approach--a show trial followed by a bullet in the back of the head. The "no person, no problem" option wasn't viable.

The next best thing was to send Che off on a quixotic adventure in revolution. If the adventure proved successful, Cuba would benefit. If, as was far more likely, it failed, Fidel would have a very useful martyr.

The Argentinian born, Mexican trained physician turned rebel was a fine orator, a true believer in revolution, and a hopelessly inept guerrilla theorist, leader, and commander. His so-called "great victory" over a unit of the Batista army was really a self-inflicted defeat by the local commander who was even more incompetent than Che.

Che's great exercise in exporting the revolution was a cropper from the get-go. He picked the wrong place, the wrong potential recruits, and made more "noise" in the bush than a hippo in church. It was a no-brainer for the CIA, US Special Operations personnel, and Bolivian army units to nail Che and his ragged assemblage of wannabe freedom fighters.

The US did not want Che dead. CIA and military personnel on the ground in Bolivia didn't want him dead. A corpse has no use.

The Bolivians didn't see it that way. They brushed aside American protests and perforated the Cuban bandit. It was our loss.

It was Cuba's gain. Che as martyr was far more valuable to the lads in Havana than he had been as a guerrilla or Cuba's first Minister of Industry.

Che as symbol spread around the (Western) world. His poster hung on more than a few US college dorm rooms. His picture became iconic. His words became an inspiration to quite a few of the American New Left and their counterparts in Europe.

Live, Che was a flop. Dead, he became a megastar.

There is a lesson here. A lesson for all those who call for the head of Osama bin Laden, dead, or his body in an orange jumpsuit if taken alive.

As a strategist, Osama can't even aspire to the low levels achieved by Che. As a tactician, Osama is on the same abysmal level. But as a symbol--

In the symbol department, Osama bin Laden has it all over Che Guevara. As an icon, Osama bin Laden alive surpasses in effectiveness the best Che achieved dead.

A dead bin Laden, let alone one made to do the "perp walk" for the slavering delight of the great unwashed, would exceed Che at his best by orders of magnitude.

Get a grip on that reality those of you who demand, "Bring me the head of Osama bin Laden!"