Eric Margolis was interviewed by CBC last night. I agree with him that bin Laden intended to assert his political authourity and this was a conciliatory gesture on his part towards the American people.
And I agree with him that bin Laden prefers George, who has been good for the terrorism business, but I don’t exactly concur this was an endorsement for his re-election. Beyond spinning it either way as “we shouldn’t change horses in midstream”, or bin Laden alive and taping is a negative for Bush, after all is said and done, bin Laden tricked them both out.
“President Bush vowed on Friday the United States will not be intimidated by a pre-election warning from Osama Bin Laden…”
I think “bring it on” is an extremely weak response. Even though it reaffirms bin Laden’s reclamation of his position as the number one fear factor in this election, taking the focus off Iraq and putting it back on George’s terms, Bush could lose the upper hand if Kerry goes beyond attacking him for letting bin Laden escape and rips apart the fallacy “they attacked us for our freedom.” bin Laden’s finally claiming responsibilty for the attacks is akin to rubbing George’s nose in it but pointing out that both candidates’ plans will bring more attacks on America is rubbing Kerry’s nose in it. Kerry’s people must be banging their heads against the wall over that because it’s true; Kerry’s plans don’t address the root cause of terrorism. If he could manage to address that, albeit an incredible task to undertake at this late stage of the game, he would prevail as the stronger candidate.
So much for the “October Surprise” AEI predicted, i.e., the trial of Saddam, the capture of bin Laden, another attack? It seemed to me bin Laden wanted to convey there will be no attack until after the election. Hopefully, the administration doesn’t take this seriously.
As for the intelligence reform bill’s collapse I think if the changes are in line with the appointment of a partisan loyalist like Porter Goss to position of chief filterer then it should die a quick death.
What I find gloomy is that knowledge of the deliberate efforts to skew intelligence and coordinated by the WH in order to carry out war crimes in Iraq hasn’t resulted in a nationwide demand for heads to roll.
But they’re rolling in Fallujah.