BUSH
GETS CODED MESSAGE FROM OSAMA BIN LADEN
After
numerous rounds of 'We don't even know if bin
Laden is still alive', bin Laden decides to
send George W. a letter in his own writing to
let him know that he is still in the game.
Bush opens the letter
and sees only a coded message: "370HSSV-0773H".
He can't figure it out, so he asks Karl Rove.
Rove suggests that
the head of the CIA would certainly understand
code, so Bush sends it to George Tenet. Tenet,
however, can't figure it out, either. He suggests,
"How about Condi? She has a doctorate, that
means she's smart."
But Dr. Rice
is baffled, too. As Bush is pondering the mysterious
message lying on the desk before him, Colin
Powell enters the Oval Office. When he sees
the paper and reads what is written on it, he
asks, "Sir, where did that come from?"
Bush replies testily,
"Supposedly it's a message from Osama bin Laden.
But what the hell does '370HSSV-0773H' mean?"
Powell clears his throat
and replies, "Mr. President, I think you've
been looking at the message upside down."
