As you've probably heard by now, Al-Jazeera TV obtained and began broadcasting a new video yesterday afternoon with previously unseen footage of Osama bin Laden meeting with the top planners of the Sept. 11 attacks. It prompted similar responses from some of my favorite writers.
For example, The New Republic's Michael Crowley wrote, "Given the White House's current strategy to divert attention away from Iraq and back to Osama bin Laden and 9/11, this new al Qaeda video is bizarrely in sync with Karl Rove's election-season game plan. It's especially weird when you recall that bin Laden's 11th-hour video in October 2004 may have cost John Kerry the election (something I know certain of his staffers believe). I'm not suggesting any actual coordination here, something that seems almost too obvious to say. But in a weird way, you can argue that bin Laden has become a kind of political ally for George W. Bush."
Similarly, Josh Marshall added, "So al Qaida - or what's left of it - releases a five-plus year old tape of bin Laden with two of the 9/11 hijackers as well as Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the baddies just transfered to Gitmo. Right in time for the president's big kangaroo court role out. If you didn't know that bin Laden and Bush were the two polar opposites in the global battle between good and evil, you'd think the two were coordinating their media blitzes."
And Ezra Klein noted, "bin Laden seems perfectly content to release a new tape moments before each election. It's understood truth that the tighter terrorism's grip on the national agenda, the brighter the fortunes of the Republican Party. And yet bin Laden, whom the RNC would like you to believe blanches at the mere mention of their name, routinely plays deus ex machina each time their electoral outlook dims. To believe that bin Laden, whose network is largely online and reportedly sophisticated, cannot call up the New York Times and comprehend this electoral dynamic is the height of foolishness. So, for whatever reason, he appears intent on doing his enthusiastic best to improve the Republicans' prospects. Strange, given their belief that he fears them so."
I have to say, it warms the heart to know that my cynicism is shared by reasonable, levelheaded writers at widely respected outlets...
I have to say, it warms the heart to know that my cynicism is shared by reasonable, levelheaded writers at widely respected outlets...
As always, it's just a little too pat.
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