News that Osama bin Laden is planning on releasing a new video tape this coming September 11, has set off much speculation. I will wait to see what comes of it before commenting further, since there is a lot of uncertainty over what exactly the tape will consist of and whether or not it is legitimate. (I simply don't know one way or the other.) But, in anticipation of the tape's release, the Associated Press has compiled a timeline ("Audio and Video Messages From Bin Laden") of bin Laden's previous communications since September 11, 2001, including those strongly suspected of being authentic as well as those known to be the real deal. Note, in particular, this entry from the AP:
Feb. 11, 2003: Bin Laden tells his followers to help Saddam Hussein fight Americans in an audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera. U.S. officials say they believe the tape to be authentic.
One would think that bin Laden himself calling for cooperation with Saddam would serve to end the idea that the two were incapable of cooperation. But, of course, such was not the case. In any event, I discussed bin Laden's call for supporting Saddam in February 2003 in my piece, "Iraq Is the Central Front":
…bin Laden considered Saddam Hussein an "apostate" and an "infidel." He said so many times. It is widely believed in the West that this ideological difference precluded any form of cooperation between al Qaeda and Saddam. As THE WEEKLY STANDARD has documented repeatedly, however, that judgment is flawed. In fact, as the war approached in February 2003, bin Laden explained the necessity of joining forces with Saddam. However distasteful, Saddam was still preferable to the "Crusaders":
It is well known that fighting under pagan banners is not allowed, and that the Muslim's belief and banner must be clear when fighting for God. As the Prophet said: "Only he whose aim in fighting is to keep God's word supreme fights in God's cause." There is no harm in such circumstances if the Muslims' interests coincide with those of the socialists in fighting the Crusaders, despite our firm conviction that they are infidels. The time of these socialist rulers is long past. The socialists are infidels, wherever they may be, whether in Baghdad or Aden. The current fighting and the fighting that will take place in the coming days can be very much compared to the Muslims' previous battles. There is nothing wrong with a convergence of interests here.
There was a clear convergence of interests in the Iraqi insurgency against the Coalition. Neither Saddam nor bin Laden planned the Iraqi insurgency in every detail. However, extensive evidence found in Iraqi intelligence documents recovered by the coalition and the testimony of al Qaeda operatives confirms that Saddam welcomed al Qaeda terrorists and other jihadists to Iraqi soil in the weeks and months prior to the war. …
Curious, isn't it, that more people--ahem, the AP included--haven't been willing to explore this "convergence of interests" further?
