Thursday, 4 June 2009

Bin Laden - the has been

Predictably an audio tape released yesterday had the usual threats of death and destruction toward the great Satan America. This time the terrorist outrage was aimed at Obama for backing the Pakistani governments activities in the Swat valley.  dangerously close from Bin Laden's point of view to the North West frontier on the border with Afghanistan where he is believed to be hiding . Unlike previous tapes (note its audio and not video) this one contains  nothing new in fact it sounded  a bit tame from supposedly the worlds top terrorist. terrorists by their very nature are supposed to terrify unfortunately  for Bin Laden he has been out of circulation for so long that he has become a bit of a toothless tiger.  Driven like our friend Saddam to hiding in a hole in the ground for the past 8 years. This containment of Bin Laden is a single edged sword while it is true that it has rendered him for the most part impotent in launching any large scale attacks. it also means that his death or capture would  apart from a morale boosting effect on the west have no real strategic significance. Al Quaeda the organisation would largely be unaffected. This deliberate policy from the White house of Marginalising Bin Laden has been a spectacular success. Many observers believed Al Quaeda could not be defeated in Iraq but they have well and truly been routed. Afghanistan is a much harder nut to crack but the signs are good. the only part of the world Al Quaeda has any real foothold in now is in North Africa.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting piece. What puzzles me is this, In this day-and-age they still use audio tapes - and thus I can't take the threats seriously. I mean, the only people who use cassettes nowadays are Al Qaeda and hairy chested Cypriots driving left-hand drive Mercedes.

    Now - if the threats were made on Bluray discs, with Dolby 5.1 surround sound, and maybe DTS and THX options thrown in, that would be a different matter. This would indicate they have moved on from the 14th Century, and to be taken seriously.

    Soon no one will hear from Al Qeada because no one in the West will have an audio cassete player to listen to their vile messages.

    Simples.

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