OBL and Saddam weren't even friendly to each other, let alone being complicit with one another
ON IRAQ
Bin Laden is known to connect historical dots. Like Hafez Assad and Khomeini's addresses, his speech is marinated with grand normative moments. Addressing the Arabs in general, he condemned their leaders for not understanding the logic of cousinhood . In the Arab world, a main political paragdigm has always been maintained by the ruling elites of the region: We and our brothers will fight our cousins, and we and our cousins will fight all strangers . Al-Qaeda and its constellation have applied the axiom under Jihadist guidelines. To them, Arabs and Muslims must leave aside all their internal conflicts aside when "infidels" show up.
In Osama's mind, Arab monarchs and Presidents-for-life should have opposed the first American intervention in 1991, even though a despicable Arab regime had invaded a peaceful Arab neighbor. His evidence against the regimes is drawn from the last war. "They hesitated in supporting America in Iraq only because they feared for a regime change in their midst." On that one, the master of al-Qaeda was right on target. That was the real reason behind the Arab League opposition to the war. When they met in Beirut back in 2002, most of the regimes shielded Saddam, not out of solidarity with the wild dictator, but to preempt the long term consequences of his toppling. Bin Laden understood that and he is banking on the sentiment still surviving.
Then Osama mentioned Saddam's capture. "If he mentioned that event, it means that the audio is authentic," the al-Jazeera anchors repeated all day long. They were followed by their counterparts in the BBC, CNN and the rest of the world's news agencies. In fact, Osama did not pronounce the name of Saddam Hussein, at least not in the aired segment nor on the piece posted on any website. All the while, the news outlets overlooked Osama's real aim in releasing the audiotape: to assert his inheritance of the jihad in Iraq. Saddam may have been captured, but now Osama has stepped forward to insinuate the al-Qaeda leadership as the head of the violent resistance in Iraq.
When I was interviewed about bin Laden's next step in the wake of the Iraqi leader's capture, I told a myriad of media, including MSNBC, Radio America and others, that the Terrorist-in-Chief would release a cassette to his al-Qaeda brethren around the planet taking over operations in Iraq. Perhaps it is too complex for many among our analysts and Mideast experts, but the essence of this last move is simple. From the arrest of Hussein onward, bin Laden commands the war in Mesopotamia -- or at least that's what he intends to do. And that's what al-Jazeera pounded Arab ears with for a whole day.
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