Osama Bin Laden, in his recent rant to the “People of America” (transcript below and on the following five pages), objects to the bad rap he and his fellows have gotten “for a long time now by your politicians.” In his 26-minute videotape, Bin Laden cautions against believing the “biased campaign” directed at Americans “by way of your media, especially Hollywood” (Page 2). Ya knock down two measly skyscrapers (plus, OK, a good-sized chunk of the Pentagon) and they never let ya forget it. …
Americans’ problem, Bin Laden wants you to know, is the capitalist system, the “greatest of plagues and most dangerous of threats to the lives of humans.” Capitalism has turned “the entire world into a fiefdom of the major corporations.” Lest you mistake Bin Laden for a left-winger, please note that he also harbors contempt for “insane taxes” (Page 4). This last raises the tantalizing possibility that Bin Laden is prepared to sign Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Bin Laden’s video, produced by al-Qaida media arm al-Sahab, first appeared with an English translation on the Web site of SITE Institute, a private Washington, D.C., group set up to “search for international terrorist entities.” The group’s paid subscribers include ”[l]arge, high-profile corporations” that wish to monitor threats to their “assets and employees.” TiVo alert: Al-Sahab says that Bin Laden will appear in another videotape to be made public on the sixth anniversary of 9/11.
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