Bin Laden 'was ace administrator'

Osama bin Laden will be studied by future generations for his ability as an ace administrator, a top flight military expert said today.

The terror lord’s lasting legacy will be his success in modernising and reorganising the business of mass murder.

Philip Bobbit, the senior American military strategist and respected academic, was talking at the Hay Festival in mid Wales today.

As a former director of America’s Centre of National Security he is uniquely placed to give an insight into the terrorist threat.

He warned an audience today that 21st century terrorists would increasingly use the benefits of globalism to plan and carry out atrocities.

Mass murderer bin Laden was assassinated by a crack American hit squad last month after living at a secret location in Pakistan for years.

His legacy would be that he treated terrorism like a business, ensuring it used modern methods such as the internet.

In 50 years political scientists would have little interest in his exploits, Mr Bobbit said.

“But he will be studied by business groups because of his success in his reorganisation.”

He said that he was certainly the only person present who had shaken the hands of both Gerry Adams and Yasser Arafat.

“If I had said to either man I can get you a 10 kiloton (bomb) they would have jumped in the air,” he said.

“They would have thought I was an agent provocateur or that I was wearing a wire.

“But if I had said that to bin Laden, when he was alive, he would have said ’how much will that cost me?”’