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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

International He's Baaaaaack (and Now He's an Economic Pundit)

Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 8:41 AM

NYT:

In his first public statement over the 19-day Gaza conflict, the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, on Wednesday publicly exhorted Muslims to wage holy war against Israel and criticized Israel’s Arab allies in an audiotape posted on Islamist Web sites.

According to ABC News:

It is the first time bin Laden has been heard from in seven months and puts to rest speculation he is dead.

Apparently, he gets network TV in that cave of his.

"Now America is begging the world for money," bin Laden says, "and the USA will not be as powerful as it used to be."

"This rapid failing for America was one of the reasons that the Israelis started their attacks against Gaza and just to make use of what's left of the Bush term," he says.

Bin Laden makes reference to Vice-President elect Joseph Biden, quoting him as saying "the financial crisis is bigger than we expected" and the al Qaeda leader counsels patience in continuing to fight the U.S.

Bin Laden appears to be referring to comments Biden made to ABC News' George Stephanopolous in an Dec. 21 appearance on This Week. "The economy is in much worse shape that we thought it was in," Biden said then.

"The majority of the U.S. people are happy to get rid of Bush, Bush left for his successor a heavy heritage, the hardest part of heritage is guerilla wars," bin Laden says.

Comments (11) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Well, the world is begging the world for money at this point, but whatever.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on January 14, 2009 at 8:44 AM

Bin Laden certainly played the Cheney-Bush admin into doing everything he wanted them to do. Let's hope that Obama doesn't do the same. It's time to be smart about counter-terrorism, rather than just starting up wars that do nothing but drain our resources, and keep us away from the real threats.

Posted by Rob on January 14, 2009 at 8:49 AM

When hasn't America been begging the world for money in the past 30 years?

Posted by Deflation and Debt are bad on January 14, 2009 at 8:54 AM

whose plan was it to wreck the US economy?

georgy so kept us safe

Posted by McG on January 14, 2009 at 8:58 AM

Gorilla wars? Oh man, sign me up!

My money is on the Silverback

Posted by AJ on January 14, 2009 at 9:06 AM

"puts to rest speculation he is dead. "
No it doesn't. The guy's been dead since 2002. A faked tape recording can't bring him back.

Posted by Stoppin ze throwinze on January 14, 2009 at 9:36 AM

Bin Laden is so last week.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on January 14, 2009 at 9:36 AM

I think he's cranky because he lost his good dialysis machine and had to borrow one from Ahmed.

Posted by Greg on January 14, 2009 at 10:06 AM

The current economic strategy is right out of “Atlas Shrugged”: The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. Yet, as “Atlas” grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate “windfalls.”

Posted by D. Rand on January 14, 2009 at 10:34 AM

I thought this was gonna be another career move by Joe the Plumber.

Posted by STJA on January 14, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Bin Laden is still alive?

Posted by Y.F. on January 14, 2009 at 5:01 PM