Common Folk Using Common Sense

Al-Jazeera on Thursday aired an audiotape from Osama bin Laden, who says al Qaeda is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offers a truce on “fair” but undefined conditions. The CIA has authenticated the voice on the tape as that of bin Laden, an agency official said.

The tape’s release came days after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that was targeting bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and reportedly killed four leading al Qaeda figures, including possibly al-Zawahri’s son-in-law. U.S. officials have said they believe Bin Laden is hiding in a mountainous area on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It was the first tape from the al Qaeda leader in more than a year – the longest period without a message since 9/11. The last audiotape from bin Laden was broadcast in December 2004 by Al-Jazeera. In that recording, he endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of Iraqi elections.

He said insurgents were winning the conflict in Iraq and warned that security measures in the West and the United States could not prevent attacks there.

“The delay in similar operations [explosions in the capitals of European nations] happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God’s permission.”

But the finest words of this noteworthy day came from Vice President Dick Cheney:

It seems more than obvious to say that our nation is still at risk of attack. Yet, as we get farther away from September 11, some in Washington are yielding to the temptation to downplay the threat, to back away from the business at hand. That mindset may be comforting, but it is dangerous. We’re all grateful that this country has gone for more than four years without another 9/11. Obviously, no one can guarantee that we won’t be hit again. But our nation has been protected by more than luck.

It is no accident that we haven’t been hit in more than four years.

We’ve been protected by sensible policy decisions, decisive action at home and abroad, and around-the-clock efforts on the part of people in the armed services, law enforcement, intelligence, and homeland security.

The enemy that struck on 9/11 is weakened and fractured, yet, still lethal, still determined to hit us again.

Either we are serious about fighting this War on Terror or we are not. And our enemies of America need to know we are serious, and this administration will not let down our guard.

In related news France’s President Jacques Chirac said on Thursday it would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a terrorist attack against it, reaffirming the need for its nuclear deterrent. He said there was no change in France’s overall policy, which rules out the use of nuclear weapons in a military conflict. But his speech pointed to a change of emphasis to underline the growing threat France perceives from terrorism.

“The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part. This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.”

It was the first time he had so clearly linked the threat of a nuclear response to a terrorist attack. Experts believe France has some 300 nuclear warheads. France has tightened security since Islamist suicide bombers killed more than 50 people in attacks on London transport last July, and following the Madrid bomb blasts which killed more than 190 people in March 2004. Despite its strong opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, France remains a target for Islamist militants.

Al-Jazeera, Osama, bin Laden, al-Zawahri, al Qaeda, 9/11

Spread The Word: