A couple of things stand out, aside from the priceless shout-out to Noam Chomsky:
You permitted Bush to complete his first term, and stranger still, chose him for a second term, which gave him a mandate from you — with your full knowledge and consent — to continue to murder our people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then you claim to be innocent! The innocence of yours is like my innocence of the blood of your sons on the 11th — were I to claim such a thing.
Needless to say there were no invasions underway in Iraq or Afghanistan on the 11th, so clearly the above death warrant against American civilians is superfluous. As for OBL objecting to the murder of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, when his ideological allies have a sea of Iraqi and Afghan blood on their hands, words escape me.
What’s also interesting is this contradictory passage:
It has now become clear to you and the entire world the impotence of the democratic system and how it plays with the interests of the peoples and their blood by sacrificing soldiers and populations to achieve the interests of the major corporations.
So, in the first quote, OBL holds that the actions of the U.S. government transparently reflect the will of the American people, and therefore Americans can be killed at will. But here he declares democracy impotent precisely because it fails to represent the people.
I think it’s true, as Robert Pape argues, that terrorism has a certain “strategic logic.” But there’s little if any logic to be found in this latest communique.
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