No pimping of bin-Laden from this new administration

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"What I say to the American people when I am out there is, all you got to do is listen to what Osama bin Laden says." -- Bush, 10/11/06


"Don't believe me," Bush told Americans when he was in office. "Listen to the enemy, or listen to Mr. Zawahiri, the number two of al Qaeda, both of whom made it clear that Iraq is central in their plans."

"I take the words of the enemy very seriously," Bush said, "and so should the American people."

Bush was mesmerized with the words of the terrorist propagandists. That's why Bush kept our soldiers bogged down in Iraq. He was listening to bin-Laden instead of the American people. Bin-Laden (or the animated specter of him) loved keeping our forces bogged down in Iraq by just issuing one of his video diatribes. How could he and his al-Qaeda cohorts have engineered a better diversion than Bush provided by listening to and following bin-Laden's whispered scheme?

In many ways this Obama administration is falling into the scheme of al-Qaeda to draw American forces within reach of their bombs and bullets and provoke American soldiers into killing Muslims and enlisting them in his grudge match with the U.S.. In many ways, though, this new administration has shied away from directly responding to each and every dispatch from the fugitive terrorists.

In keeping with the president's view that the invasion and occupation of Iraq provides a ready recruiting poster for al-Qaeda, he's set about ending the 7-year mission. In keeping with the president's view that Gitmo provides a ready recruitment poster, he's set about shutting it down.

Just as importantly, the president has resisted echoing the words of the fugitive propagandists or shuffling terror alerts and warnings to generate the type of fear in the American public Bush deliberately generated to keep the country bound to his militarism.

I like the way Pres. Obama has (so far) resisted using the recent, botched airplane bombing as a pretext to spread our military forces mission to Yemen (where the bomber allegedly found support). I also like the low-key, non-conflated response to the latest screed from whoever is posing as bin-laden these days.

from the AP: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said "nobody's had a chance to authenticate that tape," and he declined comment on whether the U.S. believes bin Laden played any role in the Christmas incident.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Gibbs said, "Everybody in this world understands that this is somebody that has to pop up in our lives over an audio tape because he's nothing but a cowardly murderous thug and terrorist that will some day - hopefully soon - be brought to justice."

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said there appeared to be no special significance to the bin Laden tape beyond confirming the U.S. view that he remains determined to serve as a "catalyst" for terrorist actions even as he and his senior lieutenants are limited in their ability to plan and direct attacks.

"They offer strategic guidance and rely on their affiliates to carry out that strategic guidance," Crowley said in an interview. The audio tape made public Sunday offers no evidence that bin Laden's relationship with affiliates such as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, has changed, Crowley said.

"He's trying to continue to appear relevant" by talking up an attempted attack by an affiliate, Crowley added.

Bush wanted us to be afraid. That was his platform for his republican campaigns. Fear. "If we were to leave early before the job is done in Iraq, the "enemy will follow us," Bush told us. If you voted his republican enablers out of office, the 'enemies' would supposedly overtake us. We knew this, Bush said, because he'd been listening to what bin-Laden said . . . instead of listening to the American people.

None of that nonsense from this president (so far). I like the change.