Bin Laden specter gives Bush critics an opening
Posted on 11/16/2002 3:36:14 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Bin Laden specter gives Bush critics an opening
Democrats see flaw in president's strategy; aides tout pace of war
11/16/2002
WASHINGTON - His domestic political opponents may be on the run, but President Bush now faces the return of a different foe: Osama bin Laden.
The al-Qaeda leader's apparent re-emergence has given critics a new opening to challenge Mr. Bush's stewardship of the war on terrorism, though previous such efforts have backfired because of the president's strong public support.
Mr. Bush and his aides have played down the significance of a new tape purportedly made by Mr. bin Laden, saying that whether he survives or not, his al-Qaeda network has been crippled. And they have aggressively defended their conduct of the war on terrorism, offering a list of accomplishments.
"We have locked up or detained or eliminated important al-Qaeda leaders," said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. "We have eliminated their base in Afghanistan so they cannot operate in the way that they have in the past. ... A lot has been done."
As some Democrats started raising the cry of "Where's Osama?" U.S. officials confirmed Friday that they have arrested a high-ranking al-Qaeda leader, although they would not say who or where. Officials also said Mr. Bush will devote his Saturday morning radio address to the fight against terrorism.
 President Bush, heading to Camp David, Md., for the weekend, plans to devote his Saturday radio address to the nation on the fight against terrorism. Democrats are questioning the administration's efforts to find Osama bin Laden. (AP)
|
The de-emphasis on Mr. bin Laden's fate reflects a long-running White House effort to depersonalize the conflict, officials said.
Once cast as a duel between the American president and a terrorist mastermind - symbolized by Mr. Bush's statement last year that he wanted Mr. bin Laden "dead or alive" - U.S. officials now stress that the struggle is not about finding "one man," but about dismantling "terrorist networks."
"This is going to be a long war," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "This is a different kind of war and a different kind of enemy."
Sensing an opportunity
Still, Democrats - including some who are thinking of running against Mr. Bush in 2004 - sense an opportunity to stake out their positions on an issue Mr. Bush has owned to this point, the conduct of the war on terrorism.
They have questioned the abilities of U.S. intelligence services and suggested that Mr. Bush's emphasis on Saddam Hussein and Iraq has distracted him from the initial goal of the war: Nailing Mr. bin Laden for the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The new tape puts a bright light on what I've said should always have been our top foreign policy objective - destroying al-Qaeda," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a likely presidential candidate. "It's clear we have miles to go before that mission is complete."
Mr. Kerry and other critics also question whether the Pentagon botched the best attempt to nab Mr. bin Laden in the battle of Tora Bora last year in Afghanistan, and whether the administration is doing enough to stabilize that country.
Analysts said most Americans won't consider the war close to over until Mr. bin Laden is caught or killed, an event that would quiet even the most ardent critics of Mr. Bush's strategy.
Analysts also noted that although the Democrats are asking legitimate questions, they must be careful not to be seen as politicizing national security, something they have been accused of in the past.
Officials said it is possible the tape is some kind of forgery, but that is unlikely. It certainly appears to have been made within the last month, as the speaker refers to - and takes credit for - recent terrorist attacks in Bali and Moscow.
| Also Online | ||||
|
If the speaker is Mr. Laden, it would dash the hopes of officials who believe the terrorist leader was killed at Tora Bora.
Mr. Bush has maintained uncertainty about Mr. bin Laden, saying on March 13, for example, "Deep in my heart, I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all."
On July 8, Mr. Bush said, "We haven't heard from him in a long time," but he added, "I don't know if the man's living or the man's dead."
"But one thing is for certain," Mr. Bush added. "The war on terror is a lot bigger than one person."
Mr. Bush and his aides have echoed that sentiment since he made his "dead or alive" comment after the Sept. 11 attack. The president did so again when asked this week about the new bin Laden tape.
"We're making great progress in the war on terror," Mr. Bush said. "Slowly, but surely, we are dismantling the terrorist network. We're finding their sanctuaries, we're holding people to account."
Some of his political opponents, however, have a different interpretation of Mr. bin Laden's apparent survival.
"Now, the president laid down that criteria a year ago when he said we will be judged by whether or not we find bin Laden dead or alive. Well, by that criteria, we haven't made a lot of progress," said Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
Other Democrats also have invoked Mr. bin Laden's name during congressional debates.
While criticizing some of Mr. Bush's proposals for a new Department of Homeland Security, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W. Va., said: "Osama bin Laden is still alive and plotting more attacks while we play bureaucratic shuffleboard."
Analysts noted that Democrats have made these kinds of attacks before, only to retreat in the face of Mr. Bush's high standing with the American public.
"To the extent that Democrats are seen as playing politics, the track record suggests they are going to lose," said James Lindsay, a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning Washington think tank.
Specter of attacks
As for Mr. Bush, Mr. Lindsay said Mr. bin Laden's survival may not matter politically if the country suffers more terrorist attacks.
"Another attack raises the question of whether the national government has done enough to protect Americans," Mr. Lindsay said.
Attacks may be more likely now that fervent followers believe they have heard the voice of their leader, said Daniel Benjamin, co-author of The Age of Sacred Terror: Radical Islam's War Against America.
"Bin Laden's re-emergence does not invalidate the progress that has been made in the war on terror," said Mr. Benjamin, a National Security Council official under President Bill Clinton. "But at the same time, bin Laden is a charismatic figure and his followers in radical Islam is certain to be mightily cheered by this."
E-mail djackson@dallasnews.com
Mr. Kerry and other critics also question whether the Pentagon botched the best attempt to nab Mr. bin Laden in the battle of Tora Bora last year in Afghanistan, and whether the administration is doing enough to stabilize that country.
Hmm? Really? it seems to me that the BEST opportunity to nab bin Laden was under the Clinton administration - when his head was offered on a platter, and Clinton declined. No bias or propaganda here - not by the media nor by John Kerry. < /sarcasm >
And I still have a gut feeling that this phoned-in tape is just a clever fake.
Someone mentioned the legend of El Cid, how as he was dying he instructed his aides de camp to tie him on his horse with his sword, and the horse carried the corpse of El Cid into his last battle against the Moors in Spain, which was won, although the Moors were not completely defeated in Spain for another couple centuries.
Excerpt:
"Bin Laden's re-emergence does not invalidate the progress that has been made in the war on terror," said Mr. Benjamin, a National Security Council official under President Bill Clinton. "But at the same time, bin Laden is a charismatic figure and his followers in radical Islam is certain to be mightily cheered by this."
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy. 
Gung-ho in Viet Nam, when he came home to start his political career, his liberal family convinced him to be anti-war.
He flung somebody elses medals into the Tidal Pool in a DC demonstration.
He is the wealthiest senator in Washington and his hero was JFK.
He is not very bright and is more “greenie” than Gore.
They put party before anything. The party is number one with them.
It's evident that this "old fool" Byrd has forgotten that it took the U.S.A. and it's Allies well over 5 years of actual fighting to see the end of Adloph Hitler.
OK, I need some help. When did Bush say this? I remember him saying things to the effect that he would like Bin Laden dead or alive, but that the war on terror is more than one man. Seriously, I don't remember Bush saying what Dashole says he said. If he did say it, could someone please let me know.
People who have followed the career of OBL (or UBL as he was first called, for Usamaa) know that over two decades he issued scores of tapes that were played in mosques and were the subject of Friday sermons all over Saudi Arabia and the Arabian peninsula. He sent out thousands of phone messages, some of which were taped. Thus, the fact that the voice on the recent tape is OBL should mean very little to a good sound analyst. To think that Al Qaida and it allies are incapable of fabricating a OBL tape is to misjudge their abilities. The fact that the most recent missive is a phone message copied on tape further confounds the sound quality.
The fact that the Al Qaida might want to maintain the fiction that OBL is alive is understandable, but why are so many Americans bent on proving what is presently unprovable?
We're all more secure with President Bush as commander and chief.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
