Yesterday it was asserted that Osama bin Laden, who forever changed the way Americans look at the world on September 11, 2001, released a new recording in which he claimed responsibility for last month's failed terrorist attack and threatened that similar attacks would continue until America ceases its support for Israel.
While the message on the tape is almost certainly true, there remains deep mystery about the messenger who delivered it. Some reputable news sources have raised the question as to whether the various tapes released since 9/11 are truly authentic. A recent BBC documentary found that "much of the widespread fear in the post-9/11 world has been fabricated by those in power for their own interests" and that chasing al-Qaeda is like "chasing a phantom enemy."
There are several videos and pictures of Osama bin Laden that are known to be fakes. We are still uncertain, however, who is responsible for these videos. Some suspect al-Qaeda since Bin Laden is their only household name and any message they would want to send would be best heard coming from his mouth. On the other hand, any Westerner who wanted to raise levels of fear or provide an impetus for skewing debate about the Middle East could utilize this medium as well.
Just this month it was discovered that an alleged picture of Bin Laden on a US State Department's Rewards for Justice website was in fact a doctored image of Gaspar Llamazares, a leading far-left Spanish politician and a member of the Communist Party. An FBI spokesman told El Mundo, the Spanish newspaper which revealed the story, that the forensic artist responsible for the updated picture of Bin Laden was unsatisfied with the FBI's imaging resources and "decided to make use of Google images on his own initiative." The leftist in question, Llamazares, is considering taking legal action against the FBI.
This 1998 photo of Bin Laden (left) was doctored using elements of a photo of Gaspar Llamazares (right).
Bin Laden is one of the most infamous, shadowy figures on the planet. We may never know the day he dies, whether it has happened already or not, but his influence will unfortunately remain. Regardless of who is delivering the message, we can be certain that it will hold true – there will be more attacks – and unless the West can free itself from the blinders of political correctness, our ability to confront these threats will remain compromised.
Recently, Senator Inhofe made this point, and while his proposed solution is certainly debatable, he makes a very interesting ideological statement. If the West wishes to have any chance in protecting the livelihood of its own, it must shed the poisonous ideologies that put us in harm’s way and put its faith back into common sense and reason as the basis of our policy.
