a man our viewers came to know for his expertise and judgment as our analyst and steady hand during scary times. michael sheahan died at walter reed this past monday. he will be remembered most perhaps for what he wrote just before the turn of this century back in 1998, a secret memo urging the u.s. government to the cut off financing to a man named osama bin laden. and to stop giving sanctuary to an organization named al qaeda. after sounding the warning within his own government, sheahan became frustrated at the lack of action. in looking back on his life as a soldier, statesman and scholar, the new york times this week quoted him as asking his colleagues at the time, what is it going to take to get them to hit al qaeda? does al qaeda have to attack is the pentagon? of course, that was just one of the targets on 9/11 and sheahan helped secure the other, new york city. he ran the then brand-new nypd