New Osama tape even more boring and predictable than the last; Update: “Iraq is the perfect base”
posted at 5:33 pm on March 20, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Iraq and Palestine and Islam, oh my. Desperate to find a news angle in this dreary dish of rhetorical gruel, the AP points to his attempt to tie AQ’s jihad to the Palestinian cause — an endeavor in which Osama’s been engaged for fully 10 years and for which he earned a rebuke from no less a leftist light than Arafat himself (for his own cynical political reasons, natch).
In the audio excerpts broadcast by the Doha, Qatar-based television, bin Laden said that “Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron.”
Bin Laden also called on Palestinians who are unable to fight in the “land of Al-Quds” — a Muslim reference to Jerusalem — to join the Al Qaeda fight and the holy war, or jihad, in Iraq.
“The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field,” bin Laden said.
“We tell our brothers in Palestine who could not join the jihad in the land of Al-Quds, to get rid of illusions of political parties and groups which are mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy and to take their positions among the ranks of the mujahideen in Iraq,” he said.
Rusty e-mails to say the release of this tape was even odder than yesterday’s: No announcement at all on AQ’s websites, no banner, no graphic, nada, despite the fact that the message comes from number one himself. Bin Laden mentions the Annapolis conference in November and the IDF’s operations in Gaza so it was obviously recorded within the last few months, but why then no mention of the Iraq anniversary? I wonder if he had planned to tape something for the occasion but then couldn’t for whatever reason, forcing AQ to mark its passing by releasing whatever they had from him in the vault. A “desperate bid for relevance,” in other words, made more desperate but some as yet unknown contingency. Exit question: What happened?
Update: Maybe the anniversary tape’s coming soon? “A militant Web site that frequently carries al-Qaida postings, said later Thursday that it expected bin Laden’s new audio on ‘The Way to Salvage Palestine’ soon.”
Update: An explicit reminder that, rhetorically at least, Iraq is very, very important to Al Qaeda.
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Is he sending coded messages ?
William Amos on March 20, 2008 at 5:35 PM
He’s right about the land in dispute not being able to be retaken by “negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron.” What he’s not considering is who in that region who has the most of the latter.
fanderbiles on March 20, 2008 at 5:37 PM
He DEFINITELY needs new management.
Cicero43 on March 20, 2008 at 5:38 PM
According to CNN Osama is asking for the liberation of Iraq so he can stage war into Israel
Cant post the link this site hates CNN.
William Amos on March 20, 2008 at 5:39 PM
Perhaps the reduction of the fat traitor into individual parts has put a crimp in the artistic production arena.
a capella on March 20, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Maybe he’s dead and they just throw together something he taped a couple of years ago. When in the past 50 yrs has it not been timely to say “Death to Isreal”? You can say that anytime and sound current.
thatcher on March 20, 2008 at 5:42 PM
What would you expect from a dead man?
ChrisM on March 20, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Maybe it has something to do with an al-Qaida safe house in Waziristan that turned out to be not all that safe.
RedWinged Blackbird on March 20, 2008 at 5:51 PM
He assumed room temperature, a goodish while back.
Mike H on March 20, 2008 at 5:56 PM
I know notice how he’s not mentioning the Great Satan these days and is going after the pope?
Could it be that taking the fight to them has done more harm than we could possibly know?
Haunchie on March 20, 2008 at 5:57 PM
I think I see a “weak horse.”
Cicero43 on March 20, 2008 at 6:00 PM
thanks neocons!
crr6 on March 20, 2008 at 6:02 PM
“Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialog, but with fire and iron.”
Well perhaps if the U.S. can elect a certain presidential candidate with the appropriate skin tone which makes him uniquely qualified to relate with the middle east and who’s pastor sympathizes with the Palestinian cause, then Palestine CAN be retaken by negotiation and dialog.
AverageJoe on March 20, 2008 at 6:02 PM
Actually, it’s the Pakistani tribal areas that are the perfect base, aren’t they? At least until we elect Barack Obama. Or Ron Paul. Either way.
Allahpundit on March 20, 2008 at 6:04 PM
Leaving Iraq, are you AQ?
Maybe this has something to do with it………
Awaiting comments from Mr. Reid, Mrs. Pelosi, Mrs. Clinton, and of course Mr. Obama…………
…. still waiting.
Seven Percent Solution on March 20, 2008 at 6:20 PM
Where exactly is Palestine? Never mind, I found it in Texas.
TooTall on March 20, 2008 at 6:23 PM
Man was I misinformed, all this time I thought the “Gaza siege” was a result of the murdering Hamas scum coming to power and because they refused to denounce violence once in power the rest of the world stop the flow of aid?
So let me see if I have this right, because the rest of the sane world refuses to fund (provide aid) to a bunch of murdering thugs like Hamas we now stand accused of the “Gaza siege?”
Typical scary logic from the insane cult ideology of hate, violence, and death! Yeah Obama, lets “talk” with the insane, I’m certain they will be reasonable!
Liberty or Death on March 20, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Strategically, Iraq is a perfect location to launch attacks on the West, to liberate Palestine, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
That’s -in a nutshell- the message of Bin Laden.
And you know what?
He’s right.
I look at it from his perspective.
In fact, it has been more than two years since a little-known news item broke on the Islamic websites:
The establishment of (word-by-word translation):
“The Nation of Islam in Iraq.”
Al-Qaeda affiliates in Iraq hope -one day- to take over and to openly declare it an Islamic nation.
And trust me, that “hope” is not going to die.
Al-Qaeda will succeed only when the U.S. withdraw.
Indy Conservative on March 20, 2008 at 7:20 PM
More likely smoke signals, hence the delay. Seriously, though, it must take time for the mail to arrive from the Netherworld…especially during tax season.
Big Daddy Cool on March 20, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Bad timing on this tape… doesn’t he know it’s the first day of March Madness?
Tom_Shipley on March 20, 2008 at 8:05 PM
Ha..
“Basketball is the devil!!!”
Hog Wild on March 20, 2008 at 8:25 PM
This, from The National Terror Alert website:
Osama Bin Laden Threatens EU and Pope Over Prophet Cartoons - Says Revenge Will Be Severe
This is striking, isn’t it? Is Islam gonna go for the Pope now?
Skidd on March 20, 2008 at 10:41 PM
crr6 on March 20, 2008 at 6:02 PM
Military Strategy
Lesson one
Good military strategy suggest that you get as many of the enemy as possible, into the smallest area. Since this is a world wide conflict, is extremely beneficial to lure the terrorist to Iraq so that we do not have to search for them all over the world.
Lesson two
nevermind.
Exit question
What is a neocon?
Johan Klaus on March 21, 2008 at 12:13 AM
Osama bin lyin’, Osama bin cryin’, Osama bin dyin’.
BKennedy on March 21, 2008 at 5:08 AM
thanks neocons!
crr6 on March 20, 2008 at 6:02 PM
Osama WANTS it to be the perfect base, but it isn’t. Why would he call for people to fight in Iraq if it was already the perfect base? At the same time, him calling to terrorists to fight us in Iraq plays into our “lure them to Iraq and kill them” strategy, so it’s a catch-22 for Osama - either he withdraws from Iraq and lets it become more peaceful and gives up the fight in that area, or he does what he’s doing and gets his men killed for the sake of slowing progress in Iraq. At this point he can’t even stop progress, not without some kind of massive coordinated Iraq-wide bombing taking out thousands of civilians at once, but that would trigger a 9/11-like retaliation from Iraq with help from America.
All this is predicated on the assumption that we properly manage the home front - that is, that we get politicians who will fight the war and fight it intelligently. We’re still working on that one.
Math_Mage on March 21, 2008 at 5:57 AM
At the same time, him calling to terrorists to fight us in Iraq plays into our “lure them to Iraq and kill them” strategy
Are you saying we let Iraq go to hell after the invasions (so that’s why we didn’t protect the museum!) so that AQ forces would flock in and find safe haven to be able to set up insurgent-type attacks against our troops?
Tom_Shipley on March 21, 2008 at 7:46 AM
*shrug* Don’t ask me. I won’t deny that there’s been a huge number of mistakes in the war’s execution. One thing I will say, though: the ideal scenario for the strategy I described above would be for AQ to come into Iraq and find the local population unwelcoming and ready to cap their a**es. Since that’s only now happening to the point where AQ is starting to leave, one would think that the intervening five years weren’t the expected result. That’s one reason I think there’s been a lot of mistakes.
…but at the same time, no war is mistake-free, and how many other guerrilla wars got as far as Iraq has in six years?
Math_Mage on March 21, 2008 at 8:33 AM
I just find the whole “fight them over there, instead of here” thing kind of funny.
I just envision this scenario:
OK, Iraqis, we have a deal for you. Since 9/11, we’re kind of walking around on egg shells over here in America. It’s scary having a bunch of nut jobs bent on causing death and destruction in your country. So, I tell you what we’re going to do. You have Saddam. You don’t like him, we don’t like him. So, we’re going to bomb the sh*t out of your country and take him out. Put one in the plus column for you. Now, since al Qaeda hates — and I mean HATES — having the West in the Middle East, they’re probably going to want to fight us over this. So after the invasion, the lowest form of scum the world has to offer is going to flock to Iraq and start blowing the country to bits, distracting them from attacking the US mainland. Put one in the plus column for us! And I know what you’re thinking, “didn’t it only take 20 some odd people to pull of the 9/11 attacks, and won’t many of the fighters be new recruits inspired by the Iraq invasion to join the ranks?”
All true, but it’ll make us feel better. Plus “we’re fighting them over there, so we don’t have to fight them here” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
You’re probably also thinking it might not be all that good for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to be blown up by these guys. I understand your concern, but you’re about to be free people, and one thing free people understand is “freedom isn’t free.” Plus, you’ll come to hate these people so much, that you’ll help us run them out of the country! Isn’t that awesome?
One last thing, we’ll probably have to be in your country for a while. We’re hoping to get insurgent attacks — what’s that? oh, yeah, i forgot to mention the insurgency. That’s Iraqis fighting the new US-backed government. Even after we push al Qaeda out of Iraq, the main cause of the violence will still exists. But, back to my point. We hope to get insurgent attacks down to about 60 a day five years into the war. Now, I know what you’re thinking “only 60 a day?” Yes, I know it’s great progress, but we have to make sure that your Sunni and Shi’ite populations settle their thousands of year old feud before we go because, heck, once we’re gone, who the hell knows what’s going to happen? So, get used to us here.
Now, do we have a deal?
Tom_Shipley on March 21, 2008 at 8:54 AM