Osama Bin Laden Speaks! [Perhaps]

IF the taped message from Osama Bin Laden is genuine, then it may be worth taking the time to consider its impact. Unfortunately, the timing and content of the excerpts that we have heard fall conveniently in line with a PR campaign to boost flagging support for the Bush Administration and to distract from the impending investigation into domestic spying. The "chickens come home to roost" cliche has some applicability here. With the history and number of times that the Bush Administration has falsified and distorted intelligence information, any reports that have not been fully documented and corroborated are suspect. Both the complicity of the media and the duplicity of the Bush Administration are responsible for this loss of confidence. The current report has made public the existence of a new tape, but the announcement comes before any analysis and confirmation of the authenticity of the tape. Reliance upon its reported content, therefore is unwise. But we should examine the release itself.

One publicized excerpt refers to Bin Laden directing comments to the American Public, that polls say want an exit by US troops from Iraq. The alleged statement, if actually made by Bin Laden, would be based upon a factual premise. However, it may also be a Bush public relations stunt to again raise the argument that dissent against keeping troops in Iraq is "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." It is unlikely that the sentiment of most intelligent US citizens about troop withdrawal would be significantly affected by a tape from Bin Laden, but the Bush Administration PR efforts tend to play to the less educated public that is swayed more by emotion than logic.

The purported threat to launch further attacks in the US is another example of a red herring. If the US security efforts have been truly useful and practical, as the Bush administration claims, then Al Qaida is unlikely to succeed in any major attack. If the security program has been more PR and "show" than substance to give the public a false sense of security, as many security experts suggest, then we are really no safer now than when the 9/11 attack occurred. The lack of any similar attacks in the US since 9/11 is more likely a function of the sheer difficulty of coordinating and implementing such an attack, than a function of added security measures. With or without the "war on terror" in place, the FBI and local police agencies are doing all they can to prevent attacks. There is no credible evidence that we know of that the extreme measures that are stripping away civil and constitutional rights, like domestic spying, government approved torture of detainees, imprisonment without formal charges, right of confrontation or trial or even the right to counsel, and extraordinary renditions, have succeeded in preventing or thwarting any major terrorist attack. Rather, the "war on terror" has been used largely as a public relations ploy to provide cover for the Bush Administration to expand and enlarge the power and discretion of the President. To maintain this Imperial Presidency strategy, Bush has to keep inventing or attempting to resurrect "enemies" or the public will begin to realize that the campaign is a subterfuge. So, is the Osama Bin Laden tape a valid announcement, or a political stunt set up by the Bush Administration for public relations purposes? And the fact that such questions are so relevant is an indication of the depths to which the Iraq fiasco and the Bush Administration has taken this country and infected its spirit.