Osama Söze

Here we are, six years later. And, with Hollywood script timing, Osama has released another tape to get our panties in a Pavlovian wad. Sure, there are a bunch of fucktards out there who would argue that this tape only strengthens our reason to continue in Iraq (and move on to Iran), but these fucktards don't seem to give a shit about the status of the man in the tape. You know, public enemy #1 and all that—the man at the top, the man responsible for the "day that changed everything."

We posture, rattle sabers and threaten Iran, but none of it has any effect on Osama because he's still churning out tapes. We look like a bunch of incompetent Keystone Cop idiots running around everywhere Osama is NOT, unable to get him after six fucking years. Dare I say, heckuva job Bushie ("dead or alive", my arse). That's presuming Osama's alive. If he's dead, then Al-Qaeda is successfully managing to keep up the impression that their leader is nothing short of omnipotent and unbeatable, which doesn't reflect well on us, or there's something more sinister afoot on our own shores. Before you're too quick to say, "Oh - this country would NEVER do something like that, you asshat!" well, this country would never sanction torture either, right? Thank you, now have a seat.

Either way, we're down to the same conclusion. No one cares about Osama, the person, anymore. It's all about Osama, the myth and the bogeyman, the Keyser Söze of the War on Terror.

This simplistic approach has worked consistently on at least 30% of our population, because without the evil enemy, you can't sell the fight. As long as that bearded devil keeps showing up every so often, it's not over. The current administration has a vested interest in keeping that myth alive. In fact, the White House has admitted this very sentiment in so many words.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, accompanying President George W. Bush at an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit in Sydney, said in reaction to news of the new video:

"Six years after 9/11, the arrests in Germany and Denmark this week, and the battles we fight against al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan ... remind us of the continuing threat we face from extremists and why we must continue to take the fight to them wherever they are."

Let that one sink in for a bit. Notice there's no exasperated outrage over the fact that the architect of the "day that changed everything" is still sending messages, and that there's no firm resolve to do anything about it. You would think they would be more pissed, as each tape serves as another reminder of their unequivocal failure to get the responsible individual. However, the White House response is nothing more than the tape being used to justify continuing the current war.

Absolutely disgusting. The fact that they have the unmitigated gall to use that tape and this day as props for justification, while letting Osama get away scot-free, makes me want to hurl. But even that is not as offensive as all of the hawks running around who STILL fall for this, who STILL think that asserting our power in Iraq (and Iran) will satisfy any justice or revenge requirements for what happened six years ago. And the most offensive of all would be the hawks who know damn well that one has nothing do with the other, and couldn’t care less about Osama’s whereabouts. Well, fuck the whole stinking lot of them.