Some of you are asking, "How could he be so stupid as to make a tape if he was smart enough to pull all of this off? Why would he be dumb enough to do that?" You have to understand the complicated mentality behind this man. Here is a guy who sent men on suicide missions, with some of them knowing full well what would happen to them if their mission was successful. This is the same line of thinking people had around the 11th. "How could they fly into buildings? They would know that they would die too, so why did they do it?"
Because if you can say nothing else about fanatics, it's that they aren't pussies like most of us who don't value anything enough to die for it. They will GLADLY die for their cause, their religion, etc. So what's it to them if they fly into a building? If it's done in the service of their god, it's all good.
This is sort of the same thing with Bin Laden. While I don't believe he wants to die, I don't think he fears it. He doesn't fear death. Why should he? If he dies, he becomes a martyr, proof that the Great Satan will do anything to kill those who try to raise up Islam and the Arabic world.
Furthermore, the man's a megalomaniac. He's bragged about his crimes in the past, so why shouldn't he do it now? The man's taken responsibility for the Cole bombing and the embassy attack, I doubt he'd be afraid to take responsibility for this.
And finally, the reaction this tape had in the Islamic / Arabic world is a perfect example of the message bin Laden had in the tape. He felt this tape and the WTC attack would be a great recruitment source. And the very fact that many Arabic / Islam communities' first reaction to the tape was, "Oh, Osama could not have possibly done such a thing, it must be the Americans faking the tape", well that shows which of the two those communities trust more. Hell, half of the countries in the Middle East have given him aid in the past. The predominant attitude in that region of the world is, "You Americans had it coming."
The Afghani people have been dying for years...where were we then?
C'mon, that's easy. We're America. We only lend a hand to other countries when it serves our best interests. Here's a better question to ask yourself: How come America, with all of its advanced technology and medical knowledge, has done so little to stop the AIDS epidemic in Africa, where the disease is becoming damn near Biblical in terms of destructive force? The answer: Africa doesn't serve our best interests, so they can take a walk. And prior to the 11th, that was our attitude towards Afghanistan.
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Thank you, WWFallon! You are my Olympic Hero!
"Being a bastard WORKS."
--Spider Jerusalem