The "New" Bin Laden Tape

The new tape isn't so much new as a more complete version of the tape that first aired in January. Now, Osama's claiming that he would never be taken alive.

Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared the U.S. had resorted to the same "repressive" tactics used by Saddam Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida leader that was posted Monday on a militant Web site.

The tape appeared to be a complete version of one that was first broadcast Jan. 19 on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, in which bin Laden offered the United States a long-term truce but also said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil.

"I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don't want to die humiliated or deceived," bin Laden said.

In drawing the comparison to American military behavior in Iraq to that of Saddam, the speaker said:

"The jihad is continuing with strength, for Allah be all the credit, despite all the barbarity, the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam."

Those sound suspiciously like Democratic talking points. Indeed, if you've read materials sent out by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee with a header by the Honorable Edward Kennedy (D-Mass), there were specific criticisms of the US actions in Iraq, claiming that the US was criminal in its handling of detainees, and all the like.

There's a reason that these communications sound alike. Osama is trying to exploit the political differences domestically in order to win cheap victories. If he can weaken the homefront in the US, it may give his forces around the world a bit of breathing room to operate and conduct attacks.

It's always funny to hear terrorists who engage in mass casualty attacks talk about the barbarism of those fighting to stop those terrorists from killing even more people.

The terrorist attacks in Iraq, the IEDs, the suicide bombers, the car bombs, are targeting largely Iraqi people. Civilians. People lining up to get jobs in various security positions. Those are the kinds of attacks Osama has sanctioned and condoned. He hasn't called for a cessation of attacks against the Iraqi people, or indeed civilian populations anywhere else.

And the latest communications claims that Osama is lumping Saddam in with the US, which the news report claims to be a rebuke of the US position that Saddam was working with Osama and al Qaeda.

It does no such thing. Why are we to take the word of a mass murderer who's trying to stay at least one step ahead of US and coalition forces when he says anything at this point? Of course it's in his interest to deny any links with Saddam. It is yet another way to divide the US political elites and win cheap points. He knows that the Left will latch on to those words and take them as the truth. That's purposefully telling the Left exactly what they want to hear.

Now, I'm sure that someone will claim that I'm spinning that part of the tape so that it conforms to what I want to hear. Valid point - but consider this. There are numerous links between al Qaeda and Iraq extending before 9/11. This doesn't mean that Iraq was involved in 9/11, only that they may have worked together on other planning, coordination, and training camps. Iraq was not adverse to training terrorists, nor was it adverse to hosting terrorist groups.