On Osama to Obama
27 / 1 / 2010
By Marwan Bishara
Osama bin Laden must be laughing his head off. As soon as he reportedly releases an audio tape of a poorly written note by him or one of his companions, droves of 'terrorologists', think-tankers, specialised linguists and war journalists jump in to analyse each and every phrase in the hope of finding something new.
So many preoccupied by so little.
But is there any news in bin Laden threatening more attacks? It would be news if he promised no more attacks.
Bin Laden mentions Gaza/Palestine and the guessing takes off masked as serious commentary. Is it really so "interesting" that he brought up Palestine? Would invoking Yemen be any less interesting? And what if he mentioned Iran? Now that is interesting.
Why the softer salute (no evil crusader), why so casual - just straight forward Obama? Why a shorter text, why so simple - a communication strategy or just total boredom?
And what does it mean to take responsibility for the attempted attack on an American airliner? Why not?
In the case of the hiding al-Qaeda leader it makes sense to show who is in charge. His motto has long been 'if you can't be famous, be infamous'. After all his strategy is all about terrorising.
Bitter sweet
Is bin Laden trying to find common ground with Obama or to embarrass him? What is behind this relative softening of his tone?
But then why go soft if the released message is more of the same threat to hurt Americans?
No matter what he says, bin Laden will keep the experts busy and the media 'terrorologists' occupied (otherwise they would have to do real work) leaving their listeners, readers and viewers shaking their head in bewilderment. In the process, less and less give a damn, including Washington's managers.
Meanwhile, representatives of Muslims from around the world are called on by media outlets to justify belonging to the same religion and to condemn and distance themselves from the declaration - even though Muslims have been the foremost victims of al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
Osama on Palestine
Bin Laden speaks of Gaza and Palestine, knowing all too well that he undermines Palestinian resistance - especially that of Islamist Hamas.
It is rather paradoxical that Osama and Obama continue to condemn the various Islamist resistance groups whether Palestinian, Lebanese or Iraqi.
Listening to bin Laden speak in the name of Palestine is as awkward as listening to Obama speaking in the name of America on Palestine. How his administration overestimated its capacity to affect the parties to reengage in the 'peace process'!
This is the commander-in-chief of the one and only true superpower that deployed half a million soldiers to free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation and 100,000 soldiers to Afghanistan!
After four decades of occupation, two decades of failed negotiations and continued illegal Israeli settlement, the US president throws his hands in the air as his special envoy to the Middle East, former Senator Mitchell, makes empty statements.
With such a diplomatic void and strategic impotence, bin Laden will always find listeners
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Through Muslim eyes
The January episode of Empire (see airing times below) will be dedicated to exploring how al-Qaeda and the US 'war on terror' is viewed in the Muslim world and notably in Yemen which some reckon is the latest front in that expanding war.
Every time you think you have seen the back of General Petraeus in one part of the Muslim world, his face appears in another. Yemen, his latest stop, could simply implode if the US intervenes directly or raises its military profile in the country.
Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a leading Yemeni opposition leader, told me that US interference to prop up the regime of Ali Abdallah Saleh, Yemen's president, would lead to instability in the country. He echoed previous statements made by another opposition figure, cleric Abul Majid Az-Zindani, who warned the US against meddling in Yemeni affairs.
While the US government reckons Yemen's instability constitutes a "threat to regional stability and even international security," al-Ahmar believes that it is the partnership between Washington and Saleh that constitutes a grave danger to his country.
But this is by no means limited to Yemen. As discussed by Empire guests, it is clear that military partnerships between the world's superpower and Middle Eastern autocratic leaders and aggressors do not bode well for anybody's security.
Did bin Laden trap the US into venturing into war against and within the Muslim world, or has the Pentagon jumped at the opportunity he offered on a silver plate to destroy, occupy and dominate the Middle East region?
Either way, al-Qaeda and the Pentagon continue to feed into each other while eating away at the region's stability.
In the process, the focus for both sides - the Arabian peninsula - is being surrounded by a belt of chaos and instability from Somalia moving north to Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, east into Iraq and Iran, and south to Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Yemen.
From Al-Jazera
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