Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Bin Laden outsmarted us, and Bush still thinks it was 'inadvertent.'

President Bush came out today and said that a taped diatribe by bin Laden "inadvertently" aided his re-election. The tape, which was released a couple of days before the election, attacked Bush for all sorts of things.

Now, I would agree with the President that the tape did help him win re-election. Of course, when our enemy comes out and says that he is angry with our President, there will be people who will vote for the President.

My problem is with the 'inadvertent.' I believe that it was intentional. To begin with, bin Laden is not such a fool. Like him or not, he is an intelligent man who knows what he is doing. Bush's take on this requires that we consider bin Laden a chump, who thinks that we will all do what he asks for, and he is smart enough to know that isn't the case. In fact, bin Laden wanted Bush re-elected for two reasons.

The first is that ever since Bush made the 'dead or alive' speech, Osama has just not been much of a priority. We never committed the same kind of force in the fight against him and his supporters in Afghanistan and Pakistan that we have in Iraq. In fact, once the focus shifted to Iraq, the Afghan war became mostly an afterthought, and it has allowed bin Laden to evade capture, and in fact for his organization to continue to mount attacks worldwide. Osama must have been well aware that John Kerry promised during the campaign to renew the hunt for him, and in any case, he knows by now that what is happening in his part of the world is a second or third priority for Bush, so Bush winning was a matter of personal safety for him. It's possible that Bush may catch him, but less likely than if he was at the top of the priority list.

The second (and real) reason why bin Laden wanted Bush re-elected, is because of his own main objective. Bin Laden has preached repeatedly a continuing Jihad against America and the West. He wants a united Islamic world fighting against the Christian and secular west (and he draws no distinction between the Christian west and the secular west, he sees both as an enemy of Islam). In this regard, Bush's ham handed invasion of Iraq, together with outgrowths of this like Abu Graib and allegations of torture, have been a windfall for bin Laden. In a country where al-Qaeda had little or no influence before we invaded and which was ruled by a dictator who kept a tight lid on anyone who might challenge his rule, a whole new generation of terrorists is being recruited, trained and getting experience fighting (and killing) Americans. It makes it much easier for bin Laden to find an audience that members of his organization can reach. Bush's stubbornness, rigid inflexibility and refusal to work with anyone who doesn't want to do things his way also play right into bin Laden's hands. It is unlikely that Kerry or any other President would be as tone deaf to what is going on in other countries as Bush is, and as such he has been a boon to bin Laden. Of course bin Laden wanted four more years.

3 comments:

EAPrez said...

I still have never understood why people never held Bush accountable for 9/11 happening on his watch. Seeing the BinLaden tape should have reminded people of that and reminded people that he was still at large not make them think Bush would keep them safe. I will never understood how he was able to fool so many people.

Sar said...

You're exactly right (er, correct). All the attention was diverted to Iraq. And somehow the growing blind allegiance bought into the notion that it was linked to 9/11 and forgot about Bin Laden. I'm hopeful that the rosy glasses are losing their tinge and the kool aide is diluting and people can see the situation for what it really is.

Eli, sorry I didn't get to respond to your comment on my site directly. Just wanted to say I'm just as glad I found your site and I hope you noticed Deep Thought on my blogroll. :)

Anonymous said...

Bin Laden has been forgotten but I have a BIG feeling that he and his are going to bite US in the ass. The way this administration has handle 9/11 and everything there after has me baffled. Makes one think that our administration may scratch there watch and wind their butt.