October Surprise: "Bin Laden certainly did the president a nice favor."

[BurtWorm]

Bin Laden apparently loves America more than the NYTimes!


http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/october-surprise-revisited.html

The "October Surprise" Revisited
By Anonymous Liberal

Five days before the 2004 presidential election, Osama bin Laden released a video to Al Jazeera; it was his first on camera appearance in nearly three years. It was obvious at the time who benefited politically from this "October surprise." The tape helped George W. Bush and hurt his challenger, John Kerry. Given the timing and subject matter of the tape, it was clear that Bin Laden was attempting to influence the U.S. election, and, almost surely, knew that the tape would benefit President Bush.

One of the (so far) overlooked revelations in Ron Suskind's new book, The One Percent Doctrine, is the fact that the CIA reached this same conclusion about the bin Laden tape almost immediately. Here's a passage from Sidney Blumenthal's review of Suskind's book:





On Oct. 29, 2004, Osama bin Laden released his
"October surprise," an 18-minute tape attacking
Bush. The CIA analyzed the tape and concluded
that "bin Laden's message was clearly designed
to assist the President's reelection." That day,
at a meeting at the CIA, acting director John
McLaughlin remarked, "Bin Laden certainly did
a nice favor today for the president." <Jami>
Miscik <deputy director of the CIA's Directorate
of Intelligence> presented analysis that bin
Laden felt challenged by the rise of the thuggish
Zarqawi, who called himself commander of
al-Qaida in Iraq, and that bin Laden was
refocusing attention through his tape on his
cosmic and continuing one-on-one battle with
Bush. "Certainly," she said, "he would want Bush
to keep doing what he's doing for a few more
years."

[Atman]

1. They're old family buddies

With enemies like Bin Laden, who needs friends?

[whatelseisnew]

6. I recall OBL said in the tape that he wanted W MSM lied and said Kerry

I might be wrong about what obl said, but I recall the spin that he wanted a Kerry win

[maxsolomon]

2. OBL knows one thing about America

we're our own worst enemies.

they can't possible hope to achieve their goals (which is freedom from our influence, not our destruction) miltarily, or through terrorism. but they can make us make mistakes, and november 2004 was another in a string.

[frylock]

3. i guess this would mean something if it were actually UBL on those tapes

[anarch]

4. one hand washes the other....

[originalpckelly]

5. Osama knows George is his best ally...

I mean really, who has single handedly managed to bring down the American government and everything its stands for? GWB. I wrote about this concept in an essay, "Al-Qaeda has won." It was written the day we all found out about the new liberty-killing program.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Kerry himself believes this kept him from winning

and I believe it too.

"I believe that 9/11 was the central deciding issue in this race," he said.

He said the impact of Bin Laden's message was evident by the dent in his ratings that followed its appearance.

"We were rising in the polls up until the last day when the tape appeared. We flat-lined the day the tape appeared and went down on Monday."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4222647.stm

and of course, this means Kerry lost votes that would have overcome the Ohio dirty tricks.