Bin Laden and the Bene Gesserit

So according to The Associated Press, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari says that Osama bin Laden may be dead but that there’s no proof.

I’m reminded of an exchange in Frank Herbert’s Dune between Count Fenring and his wife, Margot. The count expresses regret about the reported death of Paul Atreides, the ducal heir of the planet Arrakis.

“There’s a Bene Gesserit saying,” his wife says. ” … It goes: ‘Do not count a human dead until you’ve seen his body. And even then you can make a mistake.’ “