Facing Terror

Abstract

American propaganda leaflets distributed throughout Afghanistan depicted a rictus-faced Osama bin Laden, half-flesh, half-skeleton. Though the caricature was meant to warn Afghanis not to shield the terrorist, it depicted the Al-Qaeda leader as a terrifying shape-shifter. His elusiveness, invisibility, and terrifying mutability intersected with the most profound concern that terrorism cannot really be fought or ever met face-to-face. His death in 2011 inspired further fears of perpetual retaliation.

Reality and fiction are inextricable, and the fascination with the attack is primarily a fascination with the image.

—Jean Baudrillard (2002, 28–29)