Bin Laden to al-Qaeda: No Point in Killing Joe Biden

Osama bin Laden wanted to assassinate President Obama—but Joe Biden? No point in bothering with him, the al-Qaeda leader told his followers. Amongst bin Laden’s records, “there is a note indicating that the vice president is not an important target because that position has less weight,” a US official told ProPublica. Who else was important? "Military chiefs like the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the defense secretary, top military people."

Writing for the Telegraph, Toby Harnden notes that to be fair, "the al-Qaeda leader tied the comment to the constitutional weakness of the vice-presidency rather than the antics of the garrulous current occupant." But, he quips, "one does suspect that bin Laden might have rather liked to have got Dick Cheney." (More Joe Biden stories.)