We'll know soon enough, but perhaps Bin Laden has just pulled a Ross Perot: causing a man he despises to be elected President of the United States.

Given his strategic, all-consuming blunder of perpetrating 9/11, however, that's what we should expect from OBL.

If you were looking for the anti-Kerry stuff, you must've missed the warm-up. OBL knows you've gotta start with at least one joke, and he riffed on Tuh-RAY-zuh for a couple of minutes--jokes like, "Hey, Sir Elton, you can take off the wig now," and an extended bit about how the 72 virgins thing might actually refer to raisins: "Maybe gin is allowed in the seven heavens after all, know what I'm saying, shaheeds?"

There's your straddle.

i saw that UBL beard win Best of Breed at Westminster last year.
He must be using the KE 04 campaign's groomer--and vet.

That is not OBL. Compare the photo of him in the video with some of the other photos of him and you'll see it. The CIA may have verified it's OBL's voice but not the content. How can there be a legitimate OBL tape with DNC talking points? With almost no references to Allah? This tape is a fraud worse than the TANG memos.

The CIA, pissed at the administration, is now working with the DNC/MSM!

This whole business of 'Bush sat in the schoolroom and failed to take action' makes no sense whatsoever. One of the planes had already hit when Bush was notified. Even if he gave an order to shoot down airliners full of civilians but identified as hijacked, it is extremely imprbbable that any such action could have been executed in time to prevent any of the crashes. In post-Cold War 2001 we didn't have fighters in the air nearly 24/7 nor any that could be scrambled quickly enough to matter.

Bin Laden is a lunatic in some senses but he has always been rational in his statements, at least those I've read. Either he is now desparately grasping at straws or this wasn't Bin Laden's words.

After reading what's been transcribed, I swear I was expecting to see:

The Bin Laden Election 04 Tape
(A Michael Moore Film)

Hm. Bill Maher says that three times a show. Is he, too, a Bush supporter?

You sank Kaus' battleship, Ace. Excellent post.

IIRC, we did scramble fighters before the second plane hit. They weren't able to make it to New York in time.

That is the point, Greg. There is a critical gap between scrambling and intercepting. The flights chosen were flying out airports close to the targets but allowing enough time for the hijackers to take control. That hijacked planes would be deliberately crashed almost immediately was an unprecedented situation and could only be countered by interdicting aircraft already in the air and relatively close. There is also the not insignificant issue, if interception had been possible in the time available of ordering a pilot to blow a planeload of civilians out of the sky.

It is also important to recall that none of this requires the President's direct involvement. In the case of a hijacking of any sort there wold be fighters scrambled to maintain a visual track of the aircraft. This effort would be underway before anyone bothered, if at all, to notify the White House. The 9/11 hijackings didn't become an issue for the President until the true objective was revealed. That was the difference between a long history of wanna-be revolutionary nutjobs (including lots of Mr. Arafat's PLO minions, which all too many forget) and a declaration of war.

Didn't this scumbag change his name recently to Mik Suuk M'Deek?

Some commentators have overlooked that Binnie's video tape was "A message to the American People", hence mercifully free of the usual Allah stuff and historical grievances that pepper his messages to Arabs.

As for the "My Pet Goat" business - can you imagine Mayor Rudy Giuliani being over in the Bronx listening to some child prattle and deciding to sit there listening to her for an extra 7 1/2 minutes after he learns the WTC's have been hit? Rudy would know that the right people were addressing it, but it would not be in Rudy's nature to just sit. Nothing wrong with what Bush did - it's a matter of personality types. If Bush had it to do over, though, I would expect that he would have excused himself saying something important had come up, patched himself in with the White House Crisis Operations Center. Eric Pobirs jet intercept mechanics/timing analysis saying it didn't matter if Bush was out of the loop is off mark - at the time Card talked to Bush - all he knew was America was under attack - nothing else. If the attack had played out differently, Bush being involved a few minutes faster might have mattered.

That said, I see Binnie's video as intending on weakening America's will and American alliances, made well before the election. He uses Israel's poor global reputation and (primarily European) self interest as wedge issues, and claims Bush's shallow sloganeering "They Hate US for Our Freedoms" is a bogus charge - that Al Qaeda will not attack any freedom-loving nation (like Sweden) that avoids oppressing Muslims, since Muslims want their freedom and independence as well.

The law of unintended consequences applies to his video, however. The release timing means that OBL actually gives Bush's re-election a boost, and we all know that OBL would prefer "Global Test" Kerry.

It supposedly is a 9-minute video, and only one minute of transcripts have been released so far. No doubt other interesting OBL statements await...

From OBL's speech to the American People:

To the American people, my talk to you is about the best way to avoid another Manhattan, about the war, its reasons and its consequences .. I tell you: Security is an important element of human life, and free people do not give up their security. Unlike what Bush says that we hate freedom, let him tell us why didn't we attack Sweden, for example.

It is known that those who hate freedom do not have dignified souls, like those of the 19 blessed ones. We fought you because we are free ... and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours.....

(Finally, his conclusion)

Your security is not in the hands of Kerry, Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands. Any state that does not mess with our security has naturally guaranteed its own security."

Now, part of that sounds good but Binnies own words and actions show him a liar. His 1998 Fatwa calls for a Caliphate stretching from Spain to the Philippines. He has set up Al Qaeda cells in countries not involved in Iraq or involved in supporting the Zionist oppression of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Have no doubt. Every infidel is his target, and any moderate Muslims that are in his way.

Still, some Leftist Americans and Euroweenies will see hope for appeasement in his remarks. On the other hand, some Zionists will try to use it to convince America they must reject Binnie by kneejerk support of the Zionist colonies in the Occupied West Bank and engaging in war to defeat each of Israel's threats.

Translation:

Joooooos! Jooooooos!

Booga booga!

Translation, zetetic - JOooos are entirely tangential to OBL. If he can use the Israeli-Palestine conflict to drum up support, he will. But his goals rest with transformation of Islam to a more radical version throughout the Ummah. Every infidel or moderate Muslim is his enemy.

Cedarford,

But the attack didn't play out differently. It was a done deal as Bush was getting word. The comparison to Guiliani reacting to an event in the Bronx is nonsensical. It is improbable that anyone would be gunning for Rudy directly while that was a specific concern about the President. His location was known to the world on live TV. Bush didn't excuse himself and run out of the room because he had no place to go. The Secret Service contingent was busily making arrangements to get the President to the airport where Air Force One was being readied. There was simply nothing meaningful for the President to do until those arrangements were made. If there was a "Sir, we need a critical decision right now" situation it would be a different case but it wasn't. The authorities whose job it was to respond to hijackings were already reacting.

If you examine the timeline for the hijackings vs. the informing of the President it becomes obvious that this unfolded in a small chunk of time. It was a plan dependent on audacity that could only be done once but just like Daffy Duck's grand finale it worked that one time. In the world after 9/11 no group of airline passengers is going to sit and wait for rescue. A group of terrorist might succeed in disrupting a flight enough to cause a crash but not upon a chosen target. It's a lot harder to recruit suicide operatives without the promise of that glorious end.