One interesting thing about the text of bin Laden's second tape, which may give an important clue about when it was recorded, is that he does not mention the Israeli assault on the Hamas government. The entire construct of his speech is that the "Crusaders" (mainly the US) intervene any time an Islamic state is formed - citing Afghanistan, "pressure on the Sudan", and the alleged prospect (?) of an intervention against the new Islamist system in Somalia (Iraq - which takes up the first half of the speech - is not placed in the "intervention against Islamist states" framework). The Israeli military actions in Gaza and the arrest of a large portion of the Hamas government and Parliament would seem to fit perfectly within this framework - but even though he does mention "Palestine" on numerous occasions, he never mentions the current crisis. That makes me think that the tape was recorded before the Israeli military operations began - which probably has bin Laden and al-Sahab Productions kicking themselves at the major missed opportunity to harness "Palestine" to their narrative.
Could it be that bin Laden and friends still have a beef with Hamas, what with their past tiff over the role of elections in Islamism and what not?
Posted by: Djuha | July 02, 2006 at 12:30 PM
"Missed opportunity"--was that ironic? (it's always so hard to tell without visual cues). Anyway, I'm sure any halfway receptive party will immediately connect the dots the way you did. The strikes on Haniya's office, like the bulldozers at Arafat's Muqata', have got to be making Osama smile.
Posted by: moloch-agonistes | July 03, 2006 at 08:31 PM
I've just never mastered those tricky emoticons....
Posted by: the aardvark | July 04, 2006 at 08:09 AM