democracyarsenal.org: Bin Laden on Moussaoui

May 26, 2006

Bin Laden on Moussaoui
Posted by Michael Signer

It's hard to know what to make of the very weird story earlier this week about bin Laden's statement about Zacharias Moussaoui. Bin Laden's statement has three parts: first, he says that Moussaoui wasn't involved in 9/11; second, he engages in a somewhat elaborate logical and empirical proof of that point, reasoning that Moussaoui had been involved, the other 9/11 conspirators would have called off the attacks, as Moussaoui was imprisoned 2 weeks before 9/11; third, and most interestingly, he whirls off into a strange riff pleading for "fairness" for the prisoners in Gitmo.

Harvard Law Professor Juliet Kayyem writes on TPMCafe of this part:

Its a good move on his part. Say whatever you will say about 9/11, he seems to suggest, but it is America now that has the dirty hands.

I'm pretty sure Kayyem, smart as she is, is wrong that this is a "good move" for bin Laden. On the contrary, I think it shows him reasoning from a position of striking weakness; entangled in ridiculous double standards; and rather panicky. The statement reveals bin Laden as weak rather than strong -- and suggests that this part of our approach against al Qaeda (the element concentrated on drilling known members of Al Qaeda into the ground) may be working better than many think.

Here's the full text of the Gitmo part of bin Laden's statement:

And then I call to memory my brothers the prisoners in Guantanamo – may Allah free them all – and I state the fact, about which I also am certain, that all the prisoners of Guantanamo, who were captured in 2001 and the first half of 2002 and who number in the hundreds, have no connection whatsoever to the events of September 11th, and even stranger is that many of them have no connection with al-Qaida in the first place, and even more amazing is that some of them oppose al-Qaida’s methodology of calling for war with America. And this is in addition to the arrest of those who were working in the relief agencies, like Abu Abdul Aziz al-Mutrafi, or those working in the media, like Sami al-Hajj and Taysir Alouni, who was imprisoned at the instigation of the American administration. So the conclusion is that all the prisoners to date have no connection with the events of September 11th and knew nothing about them, with the exception of two of the brothers, may Allah free them all. Bush and his administration are aware of this fact, but they avoid mentioning it, for reasons not hidden to the discerning. Among these reasons is that it is necessary to create justifications for the massive spending of hundreds of billions on the Defense Department and other agencies in their war against the Mujahideen. My mentioning of these facts isn’t out of hope that Bush and his party will treat our brothers fairly in their cases, because that is something no rational person expects, but rather it is meant to expose the oppression, injustice and arbitrariness of your administration in using force and the reactions that result from that. This is from one perspective, and from another perspective, perhaps there will one day come from the Americans someone who desires justice and fairness, and that is the path to security and safety, if you are interested in it. This is what needed to be said. And may peace be upon he who has followed the Guidance.

I mean, isn't this the strangest thing you've ever read? Contrary to what Kayyem says -

But, what is most interesting about this tape is the reason he believed that Moussaoui confessed -- torture and our detention policies.

Kayyem reads his statement as (successful) propaganda against the United States. Really? I see it more as internal than external -- revealing bin Laden's immense frustration with the Bush Administration's "massive spending of hundreds of billions on the Defense Department and other agencies in their war against the Mujahideen." The preposterously asymmetrical levels of our hard military strength require correspondingly asymmentrical warfare from a terrorist group.

But when they're largely shut down -- as bin Laden is in the caves he's hopping to and from -- there's no symmetry in asymmetry, if you will. There's just bin Laden beating his little fists against the walls of the fortress.

Which is what makes the second part of the Gitmo part even weirder. Bin Laden pleads, plaintively, that although he has no "hope that Bush and his party will treat our brothers fairly in their cases," perhaps "there will one day come from the Americans someone who desires justice and fairness, and that is the path to security and safety, if you are interested in it."

Are you kidding me? Where was the "justice and fairness" for the victims of 9/11? The whole point of 9/11 for Al Qaeda was perceived injustice (American troops in Saudi Arabia or whatever) justified a complete suspension of ethical behavior toward other human beings.

Not to mention that in discussing our "war against the Mujahideen," OBL conveniently elides our support of these very same Mujahideen in their war in Afghanistan against the Soviet union in the 1980's.

I make these points not to score debater's points but to suggest a deeper reality. It falls to the utterly weak and vanquished to try and claim the support of the laws of the stronger. If he were really reasoning from a point of strength, OBL would instead say, "When America falls to Al Qaeda, we will free the prisoners at Gitmo." But instead he pleads with America to apply its own concepts of fairness to the prisoners there.

Contrary to a master marionettist pulling our strings, we see here the opposite -- a feeble puppet being jerked around by his own enraged frustration at his weakness. It's not strong -- it is, literally, pathetic.

May 26, 2006 at 08:15 AM in Terrorism | Permalink

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May 26, 2006

Bin Laden on Moussaoui
Posted by Michael Signer

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May 26, 2006

Bin Laden on Moussaoui Posted by Michael Signer

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Bin Laden on Moussaoui
Posted by Michael Signer