Messages of Bin Laden Published
Moderator at work
I have merged six thread here, to create a Bin Laden thread or collection that covers him before the Abbottabad raid and his demise. In a moment a post-Abbottabad thread will be created. The thread was renamed too (ends).
20 Nov. London Daily Telegraph - Messages of Bin Laden Published.
Quote:
Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden is billed as the first accurate compendium of the terrorist leader's words, threats and ruminations from 1994 to 2004.
Its editors have rooted out many statements they identified as forgeries and retranslated to correct "horrendous" errors.
Bin Laden's terms for America's surrender appeared after the September 2001 suicide attacks and include demands that amount to the abandonment of much of Western life.
Groups: Bin Laden plans video on 9/11
Groups: Bin Laden plans video on 9/11
by Lee Keath, Associated Press
Quote:
Osama bin Laden will release a new video in the coming days ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in what would be the first new images of the terror mastermind in nearly three years, al-Qaida's media arm announced Thursday.
Analysts noted that al-Qaida tends to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary with a slew of messages, and the Department of Homeland Security said it had no credible information warning of an imminent threat to the United States.
Still, bin Laden's appearance would be significant. The al-Qaida leader has not appeared in new video footage since October 2004, and he has not put out a new audiotape in more than a year, his longest period without a message.
...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/...in_laden_video
What will this accomplish ?
Naively assuming OBL is still kickin’ (we haven’t seen him for 3 years) and using Slapout’s criminal behavior schematic, this simply doesn’t jive.
Would he risk all, nearly three years later to make a video with yet another recently dyed beard ?
Perhaps he needs to motivate his support elements, as the war is not going well for them. His appearance will no doubt grant the POTUS unequivocal congressional support well into next year.
The American public will be outraged and the stakes and bounty on his head will only grow.
I may need a witch doctor or at least an anthropologist to explain this one :confused:
Whatever happened to "wanted, dead or alive"?
Frankly, I don't know where this willingness to assert that Bin Laden is dead and his latest manifesto is a fake comes from.
If I was king (perish the thought), I'd assume he was alive and up to something until he was in custody/killed/captured.
And like your average man on the street, I cringe when I hear talk about how capturing him doesn't matter. It sounds too much like a rationalization for not "bringing him to justice, or justice to him".
"Get Yamamoto" is what I'm reminded of.
Oh, I understand the point that it is more than Bin Laden, the man, that is the problem. I can grasp this logic. It is the ideology he articulates that is the problem. Specifically, it is the Wahhabism branch of Sunni Islam that is arguably the ultimate source. This Wahhabism which is spreading to Muslim lands draws financial support, ideology and even recruits from its entrenched heartland in ....Mesopotamia, of course. Well, actually no, it comes out of Saudi Arabia.
Call me crazy or a dreamer, but the man is responsible for the deaths of around 3,000 American citizens and billions of dollars of damage. To me, at least, he matters a little bit more than the deputy commander of Al Qaeda in Ramadi or Baquba.
FDR requested Sec. of the Navy Knox "to get Yamamoto." The U.S. navy seemed to take the attack on Pearl Harbor personal, and killed the author of it. Anyone interested in how we dealt with this man can read all about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Yamamoto#Death
You miss the point, Tacitus - and I guess I missed yours
The clothing bit was directed at the fact that they've used the same pictures of him in at least two of the last three videos (haven't seen this one yet).
Can't speak for anyone else but I'm not offended -- why would I be. He's more than a cog in a wheel but he is not irreplaceable, no one is. He does have symbolic value and we don't need a martyr. The more important point is that AQ is not a heirarchial organization, it's amorphous -- the old starfish; cut a ray off and it just generates another to replace it. His death or departure wouldn't make much difference to the organization other than symbolically.
Still there is that symbology. His continued breathing is really in both our interests. Even if it isn't satisfying.
Presidents say a lot of dumb things; if they didn't, we wouldn't be able to say "What the President really meant was..." :)
And I'm glad to hear the Tri-Cities area hasn't changed that much; Good for them. Bring justice to him is one thing; bringing him to justice would likely pose more problems than it would solve. Now, if he isn't dead and we can just find him. He's as hard to locate as Eric Rudolph was...