I guess we'll be hearing more "Bush failed to catch bin Laden" and "Terrorists support Kerry" propaganda

While I still wish Bush had not used Afghan proxies so much in the hunt for Osama, I understand completely that capturing/killing bin Laden isn't the end of the war on terrorism.

ditto, ditto.

But I liked the thought in the end of the article; look how far we've come in squashing this terrorism when we couldn't find the unibomber for 20 years HERE in the States.

I think it's significant the video doens't give hints to his whereabouts (could be a "hospital," a home, a school, a mosque), he's aged a bit by his looks, and he's not as fiery or as fierce as he was in the other videos. He was very adamant, demanding, and passionate in the past. Now he is more subdued, from the talk of the article, and not directly threatening.

Do you know that we also give monetary aid to the Palestine government as well?

A few thoughts on this, for what they're worth.

The Kerry organs are (surprise) already spinning this as another reason to vote against Bush.

Their spin: Osama really wants Bush to be re-elected to keep him as the poster boy for terrorist recruitment efforts and he calculated that his appearance on tape 4 days before the election would boost Bush's campaign. Therefore, in order to decrease the terrorist threat, we should elect Kerry. Excuse me, I have a headache.

The NYT, in their front pager for tomorrow (already on the web) found it somehow important to note that bin Laden looked "vigorous and healthy."

OBL himself says our security has nothing to do with the election. He just thought 4 days before the election would be a good time to clarify that for us, I guess.

OBL apparently actually believes there are ears in this country sympathetic to his justification for the act of war he admits organizing and perpetrating against us, the cold-blooded murder of some 3000 innocent people, mostly Americans but from many other nations, as well, by the most horrific means imaginable. What further evidence of his reptilian insanity do we need?

However insane the bastard is, he is not stupid. Neither was Ted Kaczynski, who differs from OBL only in degree and sophistication. He released this tape at this time, on the heels of the tape released just 2 days before, for a very specific reason. He's never done anything without a specific reason. If his mere image and pathetic rantings on a video tape can influence the outcome of our election, we deserve whatever follows. If we allow the world and the terrorists to see that terrorism "works" as it did in Spain, we will never see the end of it or its threats.

Listening to Kerry today, trying to sound more hawkish than even Bush, just made me want to puke (Mikey Moore probably IS puking). I'd hope that at least he has painted himself into the corner of having to back up his rhetoric if he's elected, but his pattern of behavior gives me cold comfort. He may calculate that defeating the terrorist threat "isn't worth it" and leave the field to the terrorists to impose their will on the entire Middle East by force if they can. That brings us back to Israel, which would not sit idly while the US abdicated its duty - a nightmare scenario for sure.

Cheers,
Daiwa

I think it's significant the video doens't give hints to his whereabouts

Well here's one possibility (Intelligence trying to verify?)
Link

NEW DELHI, October 25: Fugitive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been spotted in the Tibet-Laddakh region, close to the North-Eastern tip of Pakistan, bordering India and China, Indian and US officials believe.

snip

And this seems to confirm it.
Link

The Government of India has not yet reacted to a Pakistani newspaper report quoting unnamed US intelligence sources as saying that the Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had fled the Pak-Afghan border and entered the rugged terrain around the Sino-India border.

However, John Lehman (9/11 commision) claims the Pentagon knows exactly where Bin Laden is
Link

In Pakistan a US counter terrorism official says time is running out on Bin Laden
Link

"If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught," Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, told private Geo television network.

Bin-Laden , the bum, has endorsed kerry. He says if the American People re-elect Bush, he will hit us with another Manhattan. The gun is to our head. Do what Bin-Laden says are he promises- swears to Allah-- Doomsday for Americans. It's men or mice time. Vote Bush! Or else you'll be taking orders from the big, bad wolf.
For a real kick on how to capture Bin-Laden, the bum, check this out:
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/diplomacy.shtml

thats such a totally irresponsible, innacurate and hysterical characterization of the taped message, it comes close to invalidating the draginol postulate regarding thinking on the right vs feeling on the left.

Only to one who is so blind that they cannot see.  But I like your post.  It means the Kerrites are scared.  Good.  Cause if he was to be elected, the rest of us would be very scared.

I beg to differ: The man is not only a FOOL, but he is also a psychopath. Certifiable. You don't get it. Takes his words literary. He believes his words can assuage the sorrow that wounds the American heart. Convince us too reject Bush. Wake up! You would not ask the big, bad wolf for directions to grandma's house-- would you? Moreover, kerry's attacks against General Bush are grossly irresponsible.

You know what scares me?  People believe OSL!  And Americans at that!  i can understand the Europeans.  They are so tired of war, they will roll over and lick their ass if someone tells them to just to avoid it.  But Americans?  We were hit.

But we will be again.  For we, or at least half of us, have already forgotten 9/11.  or they blame us for it.

Whatever.  The entire nation will lose to their myopia.  After the next time, will we learn?  Not if Kerry is elected, for that will show them we cant learn, and we will be fresh meat on their warped table.

Did you know the US also gives monetary aid to Palestine?

Risernod - maybe you should point out that the sun rises in the east.

If you think we need to be convinced of the fact that, yes, the US gives a great deal of financial aid to Israel, you're sadly mistaken - this is common knowledge.

Maybe you would care to illustrate how that aid is in any way relevant to this discussion?

If, during World War 2, Adolf Hitler had justified his belligerence towards the Allies by saying 'the Jewish lobby in Allied countries gives money to the Jewish untermensch and helps them oppress the Aryan race', would you argue that aid to the Jews be stopped to pacify the Nazis?

Are you assuming everyone here has quaffed the same 'Free Palestine' Kool-Aid as you? You're sadly mistaken. Jews are NOT oppressing the poor, defensless Arabs. Israel is a tiny country in the middle of a large, hostile region devoid of anything resembling a modern, pluralistic political culture. They've been attacked by their neighbors several times, and none of them would recognize the 1948 borders and Israel's right to exist. They are being forced to deal with Yasser Arafat (an Egyptian), who responded to an offer of statehood from Ehud Barak by declaring the intifada. They have to face religious, racist fanatics strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up buses, pizza parlors, movie theaters and nightclubs.

Israel is to the Arab nations what Tibet is to the Chinese - but since Israel fought back and won (and is filled with Jews), and Buddhism is more in vogue than Judaism, the enlightened folks of the world root for the racist, intolerant, backwards religious nutjobs.