Osama Surprise: Alive and Well

By Jack Random

The October surprise has finally arrived and the real surprise is that it was delivered by Al Jazeera.

Four days before the election, America’s most despised appears on every television screen in the nation to deliver his pre-election message: He holds American leadership accountable for crimes against the Islamic world with specific reference to Israel, Lebanon, Beirut, and the Palestinian occupation. His issue is with the foreign policy of our nation and his alliance is with Palestine.

Lacking the reluctance to pronounce a clear winner after the massacre in Miami (the first presidential debate), media pundits were quick to declare that the appearance of Osama is a decisive blow to the Kerry campaign. It is of little consequence that the conclusion defies logic and assumes a guttural response of the electorate, rallying without reason to the support of the sitting president. It also assumes the political naivety of Osama.

Is there any compelling reason to believe that Osama prefers one candidate or the other? If we believe that Osama desires Jihad, the president has delivered it with his policies of war and his indifference to the plight of the Palestinians. If we assume that Osama desires survival, why replace the president who has turned his attention elsewhere? If we assume that Osama wanted a massive recruiting drive, what could have been better than Abu Ghraib and the atrocities of Iraq?

As Americans, we owe it to our democracy not to be swayed by the last minute machinations of the enemy.

Would Osama be alive and free if we had pursued him with American Special Forces in Tora Bora? We do not know.

Would Al Qaeda be operative and apparently flourishing if we had stayed the course in our pursuit of the real terrorists? Again, we do not know.

We do know, however, that by every objective measure, this is a failed presidency. It has failed the poor and infirm with blatant neglect. It has failed the middle class with false promises. It has failed even the elite by handing them a weak and unstable economy. It has failed the world with its arrogant isolationism. Most importantly, it has failed our soldiers with an unnecessary war.

Indeed, when all accounts are settled, honest historians will record the anomaly of George W. Bush as one of the worst presidencies in the annals of the Republic.

What will they write of us if we grant him a second term?

Vote your conscience.

Jazz.

Jack Random is the author of the Jazzman Chronicles, Volumes I-11 (Crow Dog Press 2003-04) and Ghost Dance Insurrection (Dry Bones Press 2000). His commentaries have been posted on the Albion Monitor, CounterPunch, Dissident Voice and other sites. See www.jackrandom.com.