Osama "virtually impotent", really?

Osama Bin Laden dominated the airwaves with a new video message, the first to have emerged after nearly two years. Certain quarters in the intelligence community had predicted that since the elusive Al-Qaeda leader had not appeared for many years, it was likely that he was dead or severely ill. Bin Laden proved those theorists wrong with a message that showed him fit and looking like a person who still commands the largest terror movement of the twenty first century. While most of the coverage on the Osama tape figured around his dyed or fake beard or the fact that he looked younger, an in depth analysis of the content of his message took a back seat. As compared to all his previous messages, mostly centering around a call to arms or to wage jihad against the West, this tape spoke directly to the American people. The propaganda that Osama is unleashing on the world has become more complex, scholarly and part of a well thought out strategy.

The rants that is the hallmark of any Al-Qaeda propaganda aside, Osama smartly chose to mention certain aspects of capitalism that have been criticized by leftists and proponents of alternate social systems. He chose to speak about big corporations and how they run the politics and foreign policy of the United States. He talked about how the pursuit of material gains has left people unhappy, he talked about how capitalism brings ills in the form of mortgages and debt. While many may argue that this was banter that was expected from the Al-Qaeda leader, there is no denying the fact that they are concerns that do affect a large number of people. While the panacea that Bin Laden offers, a conversion to Islam may seem like a simplistic solution to solve the world’s ills and more so coming from a man who is a mass murderer, his advice is best left unused. However, it is important for the world to also realize that the intended targets of the message that Osama is preaching are probably people who end up holding the short end of the stick in the big bad world of capitalism. It is the same gullible people that the terror networks have brainwashed with their ideological jargon and converted them to suicide bombers and the like. The only difference this time being that earlier it was disenchanted youths in Arab countries, this time it maybe similarly disposed people in the West, as in the case of the July 2005 bombers in London. Most analysts and middle class citizens may disregard every word coming out of a man who forever has changed our perceptions about Islam and religious reconciliation, but his message will unfortunately resonate with a lot of people living in the West who face extreme hardships and economic disparity to actually fall for Osama’s bluff. But the reaction from the leadership of the US, the citizens of the country who are the intended audience for this tape, has been one of complete dismissal. The White House Homeland Security advisor, Frances Townsend, speaking to CNN on the Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, dismissed the tape and its speaker as “virtually impotent”. What they do not realize, or at least publicly accept, is the fact that this message may actually be a recruiting tool aimed at US citizens rather than a discourse in political history. While the intervening six years since September 11 has made Osama less relevant in the global war against terror, with new threats emerging and a spawning effect that Al Qaeda has unleashed, it is still Osama who is Al-Qaeda’s most important recruiting agent.

The Osama tapes have met with the most favored response that politicians prefer – finger pointing. With Osama mentioning the Democrats, President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and a host of world leaders, politicians have been quick to pass the buck. Democrats argue that it is the incompetence of the incumbent President that has ensured that six years since the 911 attacks, Osama can spread his message of terror with ease. The Republicans have countered by saying that the Democrats have been endorsed by Osama and that a Democratic President will make the country less safe. The response, though predictable, has been disappointing. It is clearly high time that the Bush administration lays down a clear strategy to get Osama bin Laden while Bush is in office. Not only will it be a vindication on the war on terror, it will also be pay back for the attacks on the twin towers and the countless other atrocities Al- Qaeda affiliates have carried out the world over, including in India. But more importantly, unlike in other tapes where Osama calls for direct strikes and a call to arms, this tape may just lay the seeds to the formation of a second wave of sleeper cells forming within the confines of democratic nations, and here again, India included.