When Osama Talks, No One Listens

National Review Online: Six Years After 9/11, All Of Al Qaeda's Goals Are Unmet

(National Review Online)  This column was written by James S. Robbins.

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Another 9/11 anniversary, another al Qaeda commemorative special. This one featured Abu Mus’ab Walid al-Sheri, one of the “Nineteen Champions of Holy Tuesday,” the seventh we’ve seen so far. He was introduced by Osama bin Laden in a 14-minute monologue heavy on history and theology. He hit the usual themes - the Muslim rulers are corrupt, the Mullahs are sellouts, Jews and Nazarenes are taking over. While last week’s al Qaeda video was addressed to the American people and sounded like it was pieced together from political blogs, this tape was made for the jihadists and showed Osama in top form. He quotes the Koran, he invokes historical figures, he dips into poetry and song; it is Osama being Osama. He should stick to what made him a star and leave global warming to the experts.
For his part, Abu Musab issued a warning: “We shall come at you from your front and back, your right and left.” But have they? We have seen threat after threat from al Qaeda and similar groups over the last six years, the repeated promise to their followers of “good news to come, God willing.” But apparently God has not been willing. They seek to inspire fear, but have only generated contempt and a sense of resolve.

Osama’s narration runs over a still from the recent video, so the audio may have been taped earlier, perhaps much earlier. The suicide video of course predates 9/11. It may have been intended to be part of information operations to support the terror campaign that was planned to follow. Many things were supposed to have happened six years ago. There were supposed to be two more waves of aircraft-based attacks across the U.S. over the following weeks. The Muslim masses were supposed to turn out in the streets in support of Osama’s offensive. Legions of young men were supposed to flock to al Qaeda’s banner, to head for Afghanistan to join the growing army of the Caliphate, or to take independent action in the same cause. The apostate rulers were supposed to seek bargains with Osama or suffer attacks in their kingdoms and dictatorships. Osama had expected a very bright future to emerge.

But here we are six years later and there have been no more dramatic attacks on the U.S. homeland, and all the other parts of the plan failed to materialize. The war on terror is no longer central to daily life, if it ever was after the fall of 2001. The anniversary of the attack came and went. Morning arrived grey and drizzly in New York, not like the bright and brilliant day of the attack. I went to Penn Station to catch a train to Washington. The most visible reminder of the attack was a message board set to read: “We Will Never Forget 9-11-01.” There were extra police and Guard personnel but not in great numbers. There were a few people wearing pins, but only a few. No flags, no posters. Life was going on, as it must and should.

The latest video, and Osama’s introduction in particular, presents a comprehensive argument in favor of mass murder. If you accept the premises, if you buy into the train of thought, it leads ineluctably to the deeds it was meant to justify. There is power in that; it has a great appeal to true believers seeking to give meaning to their otherwise vacant lives. Bin Laden praised Waled al-Shehri, saying he "recognized the truth" that Arab rulers were "vassals" of the west and had "abandoned the balance of [Islamic] revelation." He called upon a caravan of martyrs to sacrifice themselves “until the sufficiency is complete and the march to aid the High and Omnipotent continues."

But step back a minute and ask, who is this hate filled old man? Who could possibly care about his conception of the high and omnipotent? What psychologically maladjusted lowlifes would respond to his wretched ramblings? What dismal world do they live in? I looked around the train station - there were vendors with buckets of bright, fresh flowers. Shops full of freshly baked pastries. Cheerful people greeting friends and loved ones. Do we need a greater vision of the benevolent universe than that?

A string quartet was on the landing above the lobby, playing selections of Americana on violin, cello, guitar, and banjo. I can’t believe the banjo would be allowed to exist in bin Laden’s ideal world. Its raspy, joyful timbre would be inimical to the spirit of the Caliphate. I cannot envision rows of tired young boys memorizing the Koran with a banjo playing somewhere in the background.

Eventually three of the musicians packed up but the violinist remained, a tall young man dressed in black shirt and pants. He stood and began to play “God Bless America,” slowly, in a minor key, filling the rotunda with the sound. Soon the guitarist came back and joined in for a few licks. They smiled. It was not a dirge, but a tribute. And America passed by below, bustling, vigorous, and unafraid.

[katg21]

Osama works for Bush, the circumstantial evidence is so strong...
Posted by brianbwb

Interesting. Makes more sense that Obama works for the Clintons and moveon.org though; largest attack ever on US soil and happened just months after Bush takes office? The perfect way to screw with his presidency don''t ya think? Clintons are notorious for *** things up before leaving office from something as simmple as removing all of the "W''s" from keyboards to *** with microsoft,one has to consider 9/11 too.

[oholiver1]

An Open Letter to US Congressmen, Senators and American Citizens:-

Crusading for the Prophet%u2019s Prayer in Memory of 911

Hi Americans! Thank God for your gallant General David Petraeus! Thank God for your resolute President George Bush!
Osama has appeared again, this time rather subdued and with a faky black beard. Obviously he has been hiding and going around without his beard to avoid detection until it was time to show up in his video. This shows that this coward is not of Allah, but of Shaitan. So you people don''t have to be running scared! See, more and more Al-Qaedian and Taliban leaders and militants are being killed and arrested. In God%u2019s good timing, it will soon be Osama%u2019s and his henchmen%u2019s turn.
No need to be scared. Just take note of the counsels of the very wise---of both the dead and living,%u2026.read on at:
http://pod01.prospero.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=display&webtag=mn-comments&tid=14050

[dmgenet]

So if Bin Ladin has not prospered then what in hell is all the todo about when Bush and the Republicans connect terrorsists and Iraq? Sounds like this online mag has made a case for getting out of Iraq.
Who knew?

[boldwin223]

"I''''m all for free speech and a free press, I just wish the media would think about whether they are reporting news or giving these numbnuts a free "advertising" spot."

Posted by cyberus at 09:18 AM : Sep 13, 2007

What would you have the media report, only the Sports news?

[cathaleen]

There was something strange about this particular video. The man in the video appeared for all purposes to be binladen but the way he looked,the beard seemed fake, and his face appeared heavily made up and the speech seemed dubbed.

[cyberus-2009]

Nobody listens?

Of course they listen, they have no choice unless they turn off all their TVs, radios, and internet devices ... why?

Because as soon as any of these people utter a word its instantly run on every channel (full story at 6!) and plastered on web pages.

I''m all for free speech and a free press, I just wish the media would think about whether they are reporting news or giving these numbnuts a free "advertising" spot.

[brianbwb-2009]

When Osama Talks, No One Listens

So no one heard him refer to 19 hijackers, Just like Bush, when some of them have long been known to still be alive and not involved with the hijackings.

Osama works for Bush, the circumstantial evidence is so strong that I have made several predictions in these posts based on this premise, and have been correct every time.

[jimfinster]

LawyerTom1:

Well said.

I am part of that "great political center" of which you speak. I despise the both parties, but especially the arrogant and deceitful Republicans. So I usually hold my nose and vote Democrat. Oh to have a viable alternative!

[wogerwabbit]

Mock your enemy.. die hard. A$$hole

[rafterman1]

Al queda''s biggest goal HAS been met - to drag down America in bloody, expensive, devisive wars. OBL said this was his goal himself and they have done exactly that.

[theantibush]

Right. Just his mention makes headlines, and endless commentaries such as your own.

Nice try, though, to underplay the absolute and continual failure of this garbage administration%u2019s ability to bring to justice a man Interpol would have had behind bars years ago if not for the incompetent and bungling actions of a combat evading and deferment grabbing executive branch.

[cfin5]

.......I guess the article''s right about not listening. LawyerTom1''s much more interesting.

[cfin5]

LawyerTom1,.......I''m not sure which silly ideas that Ron Paul advocates, but with almost everything else you have said,......I AGREE! Most folks that I''ve ever talked to just want to be left alone in being plain Americans. Nothing more, nothing less. I don''t think that is too much to ask for.

[lawyertom1]

While OBL, the irrelevant, has failed in his goals, the Shrub and Chain Gang have unfortunately used fear to take away that which has made America great, its civil liberties and protection from arbitrary and capricous government action. They have also directed the expenditure of billions of hard earned taxpayer dollars on "security", while leaving us extraordinarily vulnerable to the nuts of the world. Only the small minded, the stupid, and unimaginative think that civil freedom and security are conflicting goals. What concerns me is that the batch of Republican nuts running for President, except for Ron Paul [who has his own bag of silly ideas], are all cut from the same mold; more police state, less freedom. And the Democrats, the Democrats, spinless goofs all. Afraid someone will call them bad names. Boo Hoo. It is time for the great political center to rise up and say "hell no" to the far left and far right. We want our freedoms, our civil liberties, tolerance, folks who know what they are doing and are not cowered by Faux Noise, Rush the drug addict, and MoveOn to another realm of non-reality.