Bin Laden Uses Anti-War Talking Points to Threaten America The DC Guy January 20, 2006

I just finished reading through the transcript of Osama bin Laden's latest taped message, and its frightening. Not because he makes vague references to the on-going planning of attacks on the US - we expect those.

What frightened me is the fact that most of the statements he makes could have been written by the DNC. We see the exact same slurs and turns of phrases in the arguments of those who are against the war.

Morale of US Troops
Bin Laden starts off by saying that the morale of the troops is so low that they would rather commit suicide than fight.

"The Pentagon figures indicate the rise in the number of your dead and wounded, let alone the huge material losses, and let alone the collapse of the morale of the soldiers there and the increase in the suicide cases among them..."

Bin Laden then goes on to say,

"This news indicates that what is carried by the news media does not exceed what is actually taking place on the ground. What increases doubts on the information of the White House's administration is its targeting of the news media, which carry some facts about the real situation."

Now, compare this with the opening paragraph of Congressman John Murtha's November 17th column on the war.

"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We can not continue on the present course..."

Torture
Bin Laden then moves on to torture.

"Jihad is continuing, praise be to God, despite all the repressive measures the US army and its agents take to the point where there is no significant difference between these crimes and those of Saddam.

"These crimes include the raping of women and taking them hostage instead of their husbands. There is no power but in God.

"The torturing of men has reached the point of using chemical acids and electric drills in their joints. If they become desperate with them, they put the drill on their heads until death.

"If you like, read the humanitarian reports on the atrocities and crimes in the prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo."

This statement comes on the heels of statements like this one from Senator Dick Durbin on the floor of the Senate (You can find this on page S6594 of the Congressional Record for June 14, 2005).

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."

Then you had a similar line of reasoning from the Daily Kos on June 16th where Markos Moulitsas 'Kos' Zunigas wrote:

"And let's not forget, "torture" was used as a rationale for this war -- as in, we'll invade and end the torture.

"Of course, none of that has happened. The torture that was so bad under Saddam, is equally bad under U.S. command..."

Bush's lack of a plan
Next up, bin Laden brings up some things we hear all the time.

"The wise ones know that Bush has no plan to achieve his alleged victory in Iraq."

We've seen similar statements all over the media, but I found this on the Democratic National Committee's website. The headline? "Bush Numbers Slide - Still No Plan on Iraq."

The "real" reason for the Iraq War
Bin Laden then brings up the infamous "Mission Accomplished" photo op that has been roundly lambasted by everyone in the anti-war movement, and then alludes to the administration having its own "dubious" reasons for being in Iraq:

"If you compare the small number of the dead when Bush made that false and stupid show-like announcement from an aircraft carrier on the end of the major operations, to many times as much as this number of the killed and injured, who fell in the minor operations, you will know the truth in what I am saying, and that Bush and his administration do not have neither the desire nor the will to withdraw from Iraq for their own dubious reasons."

It's not hard to figure out where bin Laden is leading there: Halliburton and Oil.

The war helps recruit terrorists
Bin Laden also said in the beginning of his statement:

"Bush said: It is better to fight them on their ground than they fighting us on our ground. In my response to these fallacies, I say: The war in Iraq is raging, and the operations in Afghanistan are on the rise in our favor, praise be to God."

He then says:

"Reality testifies that the war against America and its allies has not remained confined to Iraq, as he claims.

"In fact, Iraq has become a point of attraction and recruitment of qualified resources."

This apparently is bin Laden's way of confirming what the CIA said to Congress. The Washington Post carried it in a front page story last February: War Helps Recruit Terrorists, Hill Told.

Why can't we be friends?
It's at this point, that bin Laden wanders into his "truce" offer, which the US has already refused - but bin Laden expected that to happen. He already said why in his statement:

"There is no defect in this solution other than preventing the flow of hundreds of billions to the influential people and war merchants in America, who supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars."

The hyperbole on the numbers aside, bin Laden is just saying the same thing that thousands of anti-war Americans have said:

"Bush won't end the war because his cronies are making money off of it, and that's the only reason we went there in the first place."

And right after he offers the "long-term truce", he follows up it with statements like this:

"Days and nights will not go by until we take revenge as we did on 11 September, God willing, and until your minds are exhausted and your lives become miserable and things turn [for the worse], which you detest.

"As for us, we do not have anything to lose. The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain. You have occupied our land, defiled our honor, violated our dignity, shed our blood, ransacked our money, demolished our houses, rendered us homeless, and tampered with our security. We will treat you in the same way."

Not exactly what you say to someone that you've just offered a truce to. But this entire line of reasoning is made from a position of weakness.

If bin Laden felt strong, he wouldn't have made so many allusions to his having "nothing to lose", and offering long-term truces. He would simply attack. He knows the US is not stupid enough to let up on him and give him time to plan the next 9/11 with no pressure.

America should react
My point is not that the Democrats are just like bin Laden, or that those who are against the war are unAmerican or unpatriotic. My point is that it is time that we depoliticize the war on terror and the war in Iraq.

Our enemies are using our own arguments with each other as a weapon. We can't afford to keep dividing each other when we have a legitimate enemy who is still working against us that we should be united in facing.

There was a beautiful, but short-lived, period after 9/11 when there were no Democrats, no Republicans - just Americans. It's a shame that we couldn't have kept that spirit alive longer. Instead, we're back to politics as usual, with both sides doing whatever they can to stay in power or take power back.

That's exactly what bin Laden seems to be counting on.