Personally, I think bin Laden is dead or we’d be seeing his grim visage mucking up our t.v. screens on a weekly basis. Instead, we just get audiotapes.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban head Mullah Omar are alive and well and calling on Muslims to fight U.S. forces in Iraq, an audiotape purportedly from the terrorist group has said.

The tape, attributed to al Qaeda spokesman Abdel Rahman al-Najdi, was aired on the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television Monday. CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the tape.

Then again, whether OBL is dead or alive isn’t really the issue, is it? The crux is whether extremist Muslims believe he’s alive, and every al-Qaeda related terror attack certainly indicates they very much believe this.

But what if he isn’t – does it matter? Bin Laden – as a concept, not a person – will remain a major player in international politics and events long after his body is worm food. He is but one head on this Hydra: slay him, and two more will take his place.

How do you kill a beast of such mythic proportions?