By now, everyone has either seen or heard about Osama bin Laden’s latest taped message, first aired on Al-Jazeera last Friday. The first thing that struck me when I read the transcript was that it resembled a campaign ad. It looks like one, too: Bin Laden has ditched the fatigues and cave-wall backdrop for tasteful beige and a podium. His message–“…Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands…”–would almost sound like a campaign slogan were it not for the fact that it is a dangerous threat coming from the mouth of a terrorist with the blood of thousands on his hands.
Both Kerry and Bush were quick–and rightly so–to condemn bin Laden and his message, dismissing it as a terrorist threat which America would not bow down to. And yet, bin Laden’s tape was no mere threat. By having the message broadcast right before the election, bin Laden seeks to place himself once again on the world stage, reminding all observers that he is a shaper of world events and a force to be reckoned with. (Military analyst Daniel Benjamin argues that his message is directed more at Muslims worldwide than to the US, thereby hoping to reinforce his self-styled role as a leader of international Islam and attracting more followers to the cause of jihad.)
That bin Laden has been able to do this speaks to the fact that his is still very much alive and uncaptured. And yet the Bush camp is claiming this as a boon to Bush’s campaign, arguing that anything that puts terror in the minds of voters will remind them that Bush is the better candidate to protect America. Some (such as FOXNews’ Neil Cavuto) have even argued that bin Laden is trying to help Kerry get elected.
This form of thinking is simply obtuse. It is hardly to Bush’s credit that bin Laden is still free and able to broadcast messages of terror three years after Bush committed himself to tracking him down and capturing him. And if bin Laden prefers any candidate, it’s Bush, not Kerry. The wingnuts have been trying to push the “terrorists-love-Kerrry” conceit for a while, but it’s not sticking. Bush is far more valuable to bin Laden. He is a polarizing figure in the Muslim world and his pursuit of a radical foreign policy in the execution of the “war on terror” only provides further justification–in the minds of radicals like bin Laden–for a militant Islamic crusade against the West.
The fact that the Bush camp claims that the bin Laden message will boost his campaign points to the fundamental ineptitude and cynicism of the Administration. It’s taken three years, and we’re no closer to capturing bin Laden. Not that we’re trying very hard. The fact that Bush could point to this tape as proof that America needs his continued leadership highlights Bush’s use of an interminable War on Terror as a political trump card–so long as the terrorists are out there, we need to delegate ever-increasing power to the President to track them down.
Bush is not an effective leader when it comes to terror. He presided over one of the greatest intelligence failures in US history and failed to prevent an attack that claimed more than 3,000 lives. He has tried to assume the mantle of a Great Leader simply by shrouding himself in the dust of masonry and corpses at Ground Zero. This latest message from a hale and healthy Osama bin Laden only further illustrates his ineffectiveness.
