Bin Laden's New Image: Younger, More Marxist

By Fawaz A. Gerges

from the September 13, 2007 edition

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - AFTER A THREE-YEAR absence, Osama bin Laden has resurfaced in another of his rousing videotapes, only this time with a new image and a new message. Projecting a younger look, Mr. bin Laden gives his most ideological address since the early 1990s with an assault on capitalism and liberal democracy loaded with Marxist and socialist terms. Indeed, this new bin Laden sounds more like Che Guevara, the Marxist revolutionary, than some of his rifle-toting Al Qaeda cohorts....

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Originally posted by Frustrated Mess:
Wait a minute. Bush and the neo-cons are trying to sell the surge, Petmouse is about to testify, not under oath, that the surge is working, and as if on cue the boogey man steps from behind the curtain to frighten Americans with a loud, televised "BOO!" complete with instant analysis and you are suspicious? I question your loyalty.

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Originally posted by marzo:
It didn't sound in any way remotely 'Marxist' to me, the quotes suggested an otherworldly ideology encouraging young men to destroy themselves for a 'higher cause'.

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That certainly wouldn't distinguish it from Marxism.

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Originally posted by B.L. Zeebub LLD:

That certainly wouldn't distinguish it from Marxism.

{Ducks}

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Or our Gov'ts rationale for our presence in Afghanistan, for that matter.

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Originally posted by B.L. Zeebub LLD:

That certainly wouldn't distinguish it from Marxism.

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Originally posted by marzo:
Do you think that Bin Laden's followers could take control of the government and military in Pakistan? Should we care? What should be the response of the Canadian government? What should be the response of the rest of the world?

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Originally posted by marzo:
Do you think that Bin Laden's followers could take control of the government and military in Pakistan? Should we care? What should be the response of the Canadian government? What should be the response of the rest of the world?

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You sound very worried. I believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Two choices:

1. Nuke 'em all now.

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2. Contact the U.S. and its "allies" (including NATO, Canada, etc.) and urge them to pull all their troops out of the entire region and stop propping up any of the regimes there. Mr. Bin Laden will suddenly find he has no raison d'être.

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Originally posted by marzo:
Do you think that Bin Laden's followers could take control of the government and military in Pakistan? Should we care? What should be the response of the Canadian government? What should be the response of the rest of the world?

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Well, they would have little reason or purpose in suicidal attacks on the rest of the world, and Canada in particular. India might be worried, but India has nukes of their own and even Bins 'n Ladles isn't so maniacal as to ensure the vaporization of any actual power he manages to grab onto.

So no, we probably shouldn't care much. They would have to actively work at it to do a worse job than the current military dictatorship.

Ditto many of the other countries that are currently run by repressive military dictatorships (i.e. much of the Arab world, sadly). The longer they last, the stronger and more attractive the radical extremists become to the downtrodden populations.

Once in power almost all revolutionary movements become either distracted or corrupted or both. Governing is hard, it would be harder still in countries with a significant secularist population. They won't be much interested in committing suicide by attacking people who have nothing to do with their country.

Non-state actors like terrorists are able and willing to take on military juggernauts like the US military, largely because they just arrange to be wherever the GIANT ARMY isn't - or at least they seek to. It becomes much harder when opponents are obliged to hang around in a presidential palace or something - suddenly it isn't easy to attack juggernauts.

The sooner Canada, and the rest of the west (especially the US), disengage from Central Asia and the Middle East and let them pick their own path, the better. Whoever is in charge will want to sell us their oil regardless - it's their only export. And if they don't then oil exporters like Canada will become even richer than we currently are. So why would we want to protect US oil interests?

All of this is a 'debate' about something that will happen no matter what we decide. Sometime in 2009 the US will abandon Iraq and probably Afghanistan in defeat (though they may try to polish it up otherwise). The rest of the world will follow - and probably back out of the entire Middle East as well.

Many, if not all, of the current regimes will collapse or be overthrown. With any luck, some of them will be replaced by democratic governments, though that will probably mean radical Islamists for awhile. But once in power they will lose their appeal to the previously downtrodden masses, and become the oppressors - or possibly just lose the next election.

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Originally posted by unionist:

You sound very worried. I believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Two choices:

1. Nuke 'em all now.

OR

2. Contact the U.S. and its "allies" (including NATO, Canada, etc.) and urge them to pull all their troops out of the entire region and stop propping up any of the regimes there. Mr. Bin Laden will suddenly find he has no raison d'être.

My personal leaning would be toward Option #2.

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Originally posted by Islamosocialist:
As much as I would like to believe this video message is authentic, I have sneaking suspicion that it's a fraud.

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Second, what is the basis for your sneaking suspicion that it's a fraud? The dark beard? The article you linked to points out that dyeing your beard is actually an old tradition dating back to the birth of Islam.

If someone wanted to make a fake bin Laden video, don't you think they would present a look-alike who actually looked like bin Laden did in his last video? After all, fake grey beards are no more costly than fake black ones.

This suspected fraud business is bullshit. Remember when every public appearance of Saddam Hussein was said to be a look-alike? All those look-alikes must be hiding in the same place as the WMD's.

Funny, nobody ever questions whether GW Bush has been replaced with a look-alike. I guess everyone assumes those Arabs are sneaky bastards, but "we" would never try something devious like that.

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Originally posted by Islamosocialist:
The former multimillionaire now blames global capitalism and class for the tragedies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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