Misleading the Public
Osama Wants Saddam Dead
by Firas Al-Atraqchi
Dissident Voice
February 12, 2003
On Tuesday, U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell dropped a bombshell at a Congressional hearing
on Iraq and revealed that he had a transcript of an "upcoming" audio
message from Osama bin Laden that betrays the links between bin Laden and Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.
However, the
White House may have put its foot in its mouth this time around.
Upon careful
scrutiny of the audio message from bin Laden (and broadcast at 3pm EST on the
Arabic News Network Al-Jazeera), it appears the Bush administration may have
been so desperate to pin anything on Saddam and bin Laden that they did not
wait to actually hear the contents of the message, nor provide adequate and
reliable translation.
The bin Laden
message expresses solidarity with the Iraqi people, advises them to remain
steadfast in the coming invasion of their country and declares that Saddam and
his aides are not important. "It is not important if Saddam and his
government disappear," the man thought to be bin Laden says. "This is
a war against you, the Muslims, and you must take arms to defend
yourselves."
U.S. officials
were quick to point out that the bin Laden message directly incriminates Iraq
and proves the existence of ties between bin Laden's al-Qaeda and Saddam. U.S.
media touted the official line before even hearing the tape, or awaiting a
reliable translation. "Undeniably links Iraq with al-Qaeda," says one
CNN anchor.
And then
something happened that neither the U.S. administration nor the media
anticipated: bin Laden called Saddam an apostate.
The audio message
goes on to reveal that bin Laden believes Saddam to be a socialist and declares
that "socialists and communists are unbelievers," thereby labeling
Saddam an apostate of Islam, an infidel. It is worth mentioning that the
government of Iraq is quasi-socialist and secular, and not Islamic.
Walid Phares, an
Arabic-speaking MSNBC analyst finds that the audio message undermines Saddam's
regime: "Osama bin Laden does not care about Saddam, in fact he can't wait
till the demise of Saddam; he is trying to position himself to offer Iraqis an
alternative ideology – he calls socialism abhorrent to Islam."
The voice
alleged to be bin Laden's in the audio message also called for the spilling of
Saddam's blood: "His blood is halal." This wording is used to indicate
what is permissive or legally allowed for the killing of a usurper or criminal.
The audio
message also called forth the overthrow of governments supporting the U.S. –
Nigeria, Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
If bin Laden is
effectively calling on Muslim Iraqis to overthrow Saddam and that Saddam is
irrelevant in the coming war and Iraqis should not fight for him, how then can
the U.S. administration use this message to prove Saddam and al-Qaeda are
linked?
That question
left some analysts baffled.
Kenneth Pollack,
CNN analyst and anti-terrorism specialist, says that this is not the first time
that bin Laden has used the plight of Iraq under sanctions and under Saddam to
rally Muslims to his cause. In fact, bin Laden has spoken of the Iraqi issue since
1996, and has not hidden the fact that he is growing distaste for Saddam's
socialist, Ba'athist regime.
"The
October audio message this year was a four minute tape and bin Laden expressed
sympathy for the Iraqi people," says Peter Bergen, CNN consultant on
terrorism. "I don't see today's audio message as endorsing Saddam,"
he concludes.
Nevertheless,
U.S. officials maintain that this is all the proof they need. However, the U.S.
viewing public must be aware that they were only allowed to view excerpts of
the 16-minute audio message, and contrary to what CNN has been proclaiming, it
is not all about Iraq. The audio message also includes advice on refraining
from alcohol and illicit sex, and respecting one's parents, in addition to
other spiritual advice.
The audio
message will not go down so easily in Europe and the Middle East and will be
seen as a desperate attempt by a U.S. administration that has taken a bashing
in NATO and at the U.N. to turn the tables around.
According to the
BBC, "BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner, said the figure on the
tape voiced support for Iraq, but that in no way did it prove a link between
al-Qaeda and the Iraqi leadership."
Arabic speakers
are sure to pour scorn on the official U.S. line. U.S. Congressional leaders,
who have appeared on talk shows immediately following the excerpted broadcast
of the audio tape have alluded to incorrect translations of the original Arabic
content.
By default, the
U.S. public is offered a half-censored, half-baked version of the audio tape.
While
U.S. officials have conceded that the voice on the tape is indeed that of bin
Laden, no one has bothered to focus on why the man U.S. President Bush vowed to
get "dead or alive" is very much alive and a clear and present
danger.
Firas Al-Atraqchi, B.Sc (Physics), M.A. (Journalism and
Communications), is a Canadian journalist with eleven years of experience
covering Middle East issues, oil and gas markets, and the telecom industry. He
is a columnist for Yellow Times.org. He
can be reached at: firas6544@rogers.com.