Just got one of those CNN breaking news alerts: "Al-Jazeera airs audiotaped message purportedly from Osama bin Laden warning that plans for attacks inside U.S. are under way."
Uh, well, you know, I was kinda under the impression that they've been planning attacks in the United States for years now. Why this, why now?
Frankly, I believe it's because the big media folks have finally decided it's worth noting that Osama's not been heard from in over a year. I've mentioned it several times, and each time said I believed it was because he'd gone to Allah's Big Frat Party in the Sky. But since al-Qaeda's (rapidly exploding) leadership can read the New York Times like anyone else, they probably figured they needed to trot out some crackly audio to keep up interest in their efforts.
As Martha might say, "that's a good thing." (I imagine Murtha wouldn't see it so, but hey, consider the source.) They realize internally that interest in being blowed up real good by a Predator just isn't as glam as taking it to the Great Satan by punching your own ticket in a shopping mall, and they realize they've got to do something to make wavering potential jihadis think there might be some hope of doing something big here. There still is danger, no doubt, but this tape only proves that they know they've got to do ANYthing to make it look like the whole Caliphate plan is rocking along just fine.
As I've said before, audio tapes might do it for the splodey-types, but in this day and age of advanced, low-priced video, gimme a picture of the old goat, with maybe a live feed of Fox News on a television in the background. Otherwise, it's just the same old-same old.
(Not that this will keep the networks and newspapers from going into breathless, full tizzy mode.)
UPDATE: And Doc Reynolds notes the thing that all schoolkids know: first person to call truce is the loser.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at January 19, 2006 09:37 AM