Photo from www.denverpost.com courtesy of Denver Sheriff's Department

A gungho American named Gary Brooks Faulkner, 51, was captured in northern Pakistan while on a self-appointed mission to take out Osama bin Laden.  He was armed with a pistol, a dagger, a Bible, nightvision equipment, some other Christian literature, a little bit of hashish and a 40-inch sword, according to an Associated Press story.

Faulkner is a construction worker by trade and has a kidney disease that is so bad that he needs dialysis.  While his sister says that this isn’t an “I’m going to die so this is one last hurrah” thing, most people following this story beg to differ.   She did say he did it for religious reasons, of which I’m inclined to agree.

What I want to know is, “How did he get into Pakistan?” and “Where did he pick up the sword and gun when he got there?”

This is just another example of religious zealotry at its most entertaining.  Think of the audacity of this man!  Here we have a guy who’s about to die, and in his religious throes he decides to avenge the attacks of 9/11.  It’s somewhat heroic, but superbly naive to say the least.

If U.S. Special Forces couldn’t pull it off, how would a dying construction worker do it?   That is a question that can only be answered one way.  He can’t.  And he was so haphazard that he got caught rather early in his divinely-inspired mission, too.

His captors, one of which was a man named Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, laughed when he told them his mission.  “I’m going to kill Osama bin Laden,” Faulkner told Khan.  But when they found the equipment with him, they began to see he was serious, and arrested him and took him to the U.S. embassy.  I’m not sure what the charges were, though.

His family assures those following the story that he’s not crazy; he’s just very religious.  I contend that one can be so religious that you might as well call them crazy.  To be led by such beliefs!  Especially one like “God sent me to kill bin Laden”!  This is surely a sign of delusion.

But who knows?  I’m sure there are other deluded Americans out there who think Faulkner is a real hero; a true follower of Jesus; and definitely a “real American”.  What do you think?

Photo from ivo.co.za