OSAMA'S NEW RELEASE

Well, I was going to give Osama's latest video the MST3K treatment, but it's hard to make fun of a guy who has basically admitted to killing 3000 Americans. Even Chaplin was embarrassed after realizing just how foolish he had made Hitler look in The Great Dictator (which is still a great movie, in my opinion). There's another reason I decided against quipping to it. It's also because people have already written some pretty good commentary about it.

Tech-Noir author, William Gibson (one of my favorite writers) blogged twice about the ObL video. First here and again here. Basically he thinks that bin Laden is not so much in cahoots with Bush, but that bin Laden and Bush are partners. Like the cop who lets his number one criminal escape just so the chase can continue. After all, bin Laden committing acts of terror does suggest a bit of job security for Bush and using the deaths of 3000 Americans sure help Bush's career out. Gibson suggests that bin Laden effectively sided with Kerry in order to help Bush. The idea is that if bin Laden doesn't like Bush and you don't like Bush, then you must be a terrorist. However, Gibson turns around the next day and second guesses himself saying:

After sleeping on it, I find I'm not quite as inclined to imagine that OBL's tape was a conscious effort to swing the election for Bush. It doesn't seem to me that he understands us quite that well, and it doesn't seem to me that I understand him well enough to be that certain of what he's up to. I think the message might actually have been: "Hi. 9-11 was all my idea. And you haven't been able to catch me, so I'll do it all over again if I decide to. I know you're having an election now, but that won't make any difference either way. In order to make a difference, you'll have to get your government to stop doing the things they're doing that keep me wanting to attack you again. 'Bye."

I find that I like both of his theories.

However, my favorite commentary on ObL's tape is over at Rahul Mahajan's Empire Notes. Rahul says about ObL's statement on the tape:

Perform for a minute the difficult task of imagining yourself to be an Arab living in one of these subjugated countries, and try to analyze what bin Laden is saying from that perspective. All of it sounds reasonable. If the United States and Israel attack us, we’ll attack them. If they kill large numbers of civilians during the attack, we’re allowed to do the same. They talk about freedom but support despotism here and in their own country. If they stop attacking us and trying to rule us, we’ll stop attacking them. It’s difficult to argue with any of this, from that perspective.

Maybe I'm biased, but I don't believe the terrorists are "evil," I just believe they're a bit morally corrupt but are fighting for what they believe in--just like we're supposed to be.

I remember all the stuff about Timothy McVeigh and his bombing of the OK City Fed Bldg. I don't remember more than a handful of people back then wanting to talk to McVeigh about the specifics of why he did what he did. It was all about killing the bastard. God forbid anyone should think we could learn a thing or two from the guy in an effort to prevent other terrorist attacks. But no, we had to kill him. I did see a Diane Sawyer interview he did just before he was executed. I did get some answers--he said that when you're trying to deal with a government that communicates only through violence, then you must do the same. McVeigh had been a US Navy SEAL and claimed that he had been asked to do horrible things by his commanding officers, but refused to mention what those things were. He clearly wanted to make a statement to the USGov in the hopes it would change. That's a sad laugh. Of course, after seeing how little the USGov cares about human life in Iraq, McVeigh was foolish to think that anything would change these people's minds aside from someone in the White House who actually wanted to address issues that concerned McVeigh and ObL.

Of course, wanting to talk to a terrorist is tantamount to being a gay communist being caught in the process of killing a small puppy.

As Colin Powell would say, "Let's not go there."

Powell is so street.

Don't take my word for it, head over to Al Jazeera's website and read the more accurate translation and see what you think of ObL's words.

Judge for yourself and vote accordingly on Tuesday.


From AlJazeera.net:

Transcript of bin Ladin's speech

Saturday 30 October 2004, 16:53 Makka Time, 13:53 GMT

Following is the English transcript of Usama bin Ladin's speech in a videotape aired by Aljazeera on Friday 29 October. In the interests of authenticity the transcript, which appeared as subtitles at the foot of the screen, has been left unedited.

To begin: Peace be upon he who follow the Guidance.

People of United States, this talk of mine is for you and concerns the ideal way to prevent another Manhattan and deals with the war and its causes and results.

Before I begin, I say to you that security is an indispensable pillar in human life and that free men do not forfeit their security contrary to Bush's claims that we hate freedom.

If so, then let him explain why did not strike - for example - Sweden.

And we know that freedom haters do not possess defiant spirits like those of the 19 may Allah have mercy on them.

No, we fight because we are free men who do not sleep under oppression.

We want to restore freedom to our Nation and just as you lay waste to our Nation so shall we lay waste to yours.

But I am amazed at you. Even though we are in the fourth year after the events of September 11, Bush is still engaged in distortion, deception and hiding from you the real cause and thus the reasons are still there for a repeat of what occurred.

So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and I shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken for you to consider.

I say to you Allah knows that it had never occurred to us to strike towers.

But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the America/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind.

The events that affected my soul in a difficult way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American 6th fleet helped them in that.

And the whole world saw and heard but did not respond.

In those difficult moments many hard to describe ideas bubbled in my soul but in the end they produced intense feelings of rejection of tyranny and gave birth to a strong resolve to punish the oppressors.

And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressors in kind and that we destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.

We have not found it difficult to deal with the Bush administration in light of the resemblance it bears to the regimes in our countries, half of which are ruled by the military and the other half of which are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents.

Our experience with them is lengthy and both types are replete with those who are characterised by pride, arrogance, greed and misappropriation of wealth.

This resemblance began after the visits of Bush Senior to the region at a time when some of our compatriots were dazzled by America and hoping that these visits would have an effect on our countries. All of a sudden he was affected by these monarchies and military regimes and became jealous of their remaining decades in their position to embezzle the public wealth of the Nation without supervision or accounting.

So he took dictatorship and suppression of freedoms to his son and they named it the Patriot Act under the pretences of fighting terrorism.

In addition, Bush sanctioned the installing of sons as state governors and did not forget to import expertise in election fraud from the regions presidents to Florida to be made use of in moments of difficulty.

All that we have mentioned has made it easy for us to provoke and bait this administration.

And for the record, we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Ataa, Allah have mercy on him, that all the operations should be carried out within 20 minutes before Bush and his administration notice.

It never occurred to us that the Commander in Chief of the armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face those great horrors alone at a time when they most needed him.

But because it seemed to him that occupying himself by talking to the little girl about the goat and its butting was more important than occupying himself with the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers we were given three times the period required to execute the operations. All praise is due to Allah.