“Those with real power and influence are those with the most capital. And since the democratic system permits major corporations to back candidates, be they presidential or congressional, there shouldn’t be any cause for astonishment – and there isn’t any – in the Democrat’s failure to stop the war.” –Osama Bin Laden, September-ish of 2007.

With the approaching anniversary of the attacks that took place on September 11th Osama Bin Laden saw fit to release another amateur video directed toward the American people. While I agree that American’s should boycott the video I don’t think it should be done because “the terrorists WANT us to watch it”. Shunning information and relying on third degree reports is silly and for the most part how we got into our current state of affairs to begin with. Take a time out from your cable news sources. Don’t read online summaries of the transcript. Start out by reading the 6 page transcript that has no doubt already been butchered in translation anyway leaving no need to include some talking head’s spoon fed interpretation as well. After you’ve read it yourself, listen to what portions are being emphasized by the media.

This was the first transcript of Bin Laden’s I’ve actually given a read through. He of course discusses the Iraq War and the fact that American’s no longer want to be involved in it. As to the inability of a Democrat majority in congress to pull us from the war, he accuses the DEMs of being controlled by the same corporate lobbyists that he feels have steered the GOP towards war.

In fact Bin Laden’s complaints echo your cliché calls for campaign finance reform—I’d be in agreement with him had he not abandoned that point and demanded mass revolt from the shackles of capitalism. It was here that Bin Laden seemed to be veering towards a more Marxist point of view.

He then weighs in on religious harmony. The big three are all the same. Adherence to the Torah is the key to heaven. Following the teachings of Christ will lead you to salvation. The Qur’an is the last and most pure message from Allah and a failure to turn to him will result in a death outside of the one true religion. I suppose you aren’t deemed a fanatic by sticking to any one sensible point for a considerable amount of time…

I admit that it is fun to play guessing games with his health and try and figure out if he *gasp* dyes his beard. It is rather disconcerting to me that the perpetrator of an event that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths released a video vowing continued attacks/reasons why he’s pissed and every major news source seems preoccupied with how he looks as if he hasn’t aged a day. Perhaps if Bin Laden really wants to reach the American public he should just stick to voice recordings because his appearance is more of a message hindrance than anything else.

Does he drop clues to what his next course of action will be? No…that’d be stupid… The video is to let you see he’s alive and up to date on world events as well as to lend his opinion as to what should be done to stop the war on terror. He’s also against global warming and thinks the US was arrogant in not signing the Kyoto Protocol (gosh…when will these damned tree huggers let that go?).

What does this video really tell us about Bin Laden? Not much. It just reaffirms his presence and maintains a unifying face for terrorist groups. It is our apparent obsession with analyzing every aspect of the tape (unless of course you’re a government analyst trying to look for clues as to his whereabouts…to you I say analyze away!) for visual items than looking at the actual message or when we do look to the message it’s as if we’re expecting to uncover some secret terror code. There is also the apparent contempt for Bin Laden as a “news hound” as stated by one CNN correspondent. (There is nothing wrong with wanting information.)

Read the transcript. It’s more interesting than what’s being repeated on the networks or in reports.

Cedric King writes frequently for his personal blog here. You can e-mail him at LCKv3D@gmail.com or take AIM at LCKv4.

Last 5 posts by Cedric King

• MCS: Congressional Approval Ratings - September 18th, 2007
• MCS: Thinking About 9/11 - September 11th, 2007
• MCS: States Aren't Humans - August 22nd, 2007
• MCS: Acting Affirmatively Toward Racial Inequality - August 7th, 2007
• A Global Look: Cuba - August 1st, 2007