Omission Accomplished

Upon hearing that the Commander-in-Chief was rosily doubtful as to whether he was still alive, Osama bin Ladin sent the leader of the free world a letter in his own handwriting to remove all doubt.

When Fratman opened the letter, it appeared to contain a coded message:

370HSSV 0773H

Bush was baffled. He e-mailed it to Condi Rice over at Foggy Bottom. Condi and her aides had no clue so they passed it on to the FBI.

No one could solve it over at the J. Edgar Hoover Building so it went from there to the CIA at Langley where it was ignored for fear they'd be unable either to spin it, or else stab someone in the back with it.

It then went to the NSA where it was lost because they were overwhelmed with unencrypted domestic email. They plunged deep into CYA mode and, as usual, forwarded the message to MI6 in London.

MI-6 cabled the White House:

"Tell the President he's holding the message upside down."