Osama bin Laden hasn’t had much to say in a while, but the terrorist has released a new video that, given the content, appears to have been made sometime since May. OBL seems to have quite a bit to say about domestic affairs in the U.S.
He says President Bush’s words echo “neoconservatives like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Richard Perle.”
Bin Laden also spoke to the ongoing situation in Iraq throughout the tape.
“People of America: the world is following your news in regards to your invasion of Iraq, for people have recently come to know that, after several years of tragedies of this war, the vast majority of you want it stopped. Thus, you elected the Democratic Party for this purpose, but the Democrats haven’t made a move worth mentioning. On the contrary, they continue to agree to the spending of tens of billions to continue the killing and war there.”
According to the transcript obtained by ABC, bin Laden refers to a statement from a U.S. soldier in Iraq, who criticized the Bush administration’s war policy in an interview with a British journalist.
“It would benefit you to listen to the poignant messages of your soldiers in Iraq, who are paying — with their blood, nerves and scattered limbs — the price for these sorts of irresponsible statements,” the transcript says. “Among them is the eloquent message of Joshua which he sent by way of the media, in which he wipes the tears from his eyes and describes American politicians in harsh terms and invites them to join him there for a few days.”
OBL, who was reportedly rambling quite a bit, went on to praise Noam Chomsky, mention global warming and “the Kyoto accord,” and indicate that the war in Iraq will end when al Qaeda defeats the U.S. or the U.S. gives up on our democratic system of government.
I suspect the video will have some political reverberations, and maybe I’ll regret writing this, but I have a radical idea: let’s ignore the bastard.
If activists want to exploit bin Laden’s tedious nonsense, there are plenty of ways to do so. For those of us on the left, one could say, “bin Laden’s criticism of congressional Democrats sounds just like Republicans’! The GOP and OBL are reading from the same talking points!”
For those on the right, one could do the opposite: “bin Laden blasted the neocons, just like liberals do! The left and OBL are reading from the same talking points! And he says the terrorists are monitoring our media! So when Dems criticize Bush, it emboldens the enemy!”
Can we just skip it? Osama bin Laden is a madman. His perspective is one of insanity. The bastard’s analysis of American politics is a) meaningless; and b) meant to sow division. Might we be better off not trying to make use of the rambling tirade of a monster who killed 3,000 Americans?
I’m just putting that out there.
As for the broader news story here, there are a couple of interesting angles to keep in mind. First, al Qaeda apparently has a problem with leaks.
Soon after Washington announced it had the video, all the Islamic militant Web sites that usually carry statements from al-Qaida went down and were inaccessible, in an unprecedented shutdown.
The reason for the shutdown was not immediately known. Evan Kohlmann, an NBC News terrorism expert, said he suspected it was the work of al-Qaida itself, trying to find how the video leaked to U.S. officials.
“For them this is totally disruptive that the U.S. government could have a copy before their targeted audience does,” he said. “They could be concerned and trying to plug the leak quickly.”
And second, there’s something up with bin Laden’s beard.
One difference in bin Laden’s appearance was immediately obvious. The announcement had a still photo from the coming video, showing bin Laden addressing the camera, his beard fully black. In his past videos, bin Laden’s beard was almost entirely gray with dark streaks.
Bin Laden’s beard appears to have been dyed, a popular practice among Arab leaders, said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute, a Washington-based group that monitors terror messages.
These guys are vain? About going gray? I had no idea.