Bin Laden's New Message
By Douglas Farah
There are several interesting aspects to Osama bin Laden's first, albeit brief, message of 2008, transcribed here by the NEFA Foundation. Clearly the senior al Qaeda leadership thought the issue was important enough to have bin Laden address it, something he has not done since December 2007.
The first is the specificity of the threat to Europe, and the precise reason for that threat, the alleged insults perpetrated by the printing of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. This, according to bin Laden, is more insulting that waging war against al Qaeda or the killing of women and children.
This seems to be part of the Islamist tradition of warning one's enemies of an impending attack, and giving the enemy a chance, however brief, to repent and and convert. Whether al Qaeda can carry out a serious attack is a separate question from whether al Qaeda or its affiliates want to carry out such an attack and believe they can.
It would be highly demoralizing for bin Laden to make a rare public statement without being able to follow through, or at least believe his organization is capable of following through. My full blog is here.