Usama and Obama: The Confrontation Continues

25 January 2010
The timing of Osmam bin Laden's taped message, released yesterday, in which he claimed responsibility for the failed bombing of an American plane by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is highly significant for several reasons:

First: This is the first time that the al-Qa'ida leader has addressed the US President directly, "from Usamah to Obama". By doing so, he gives the impression that the two men, the addresser and the addressee, are equal.

Second: Claiming responsibility for bombing the Delta plane confirms that al-Qa'ida was indeed behind it; that it recruited the Nigerian student and prepared him for this mission. There is now the worry that more missions - and possibly more dangerous ones - against US and western targets may be imminent. The organization's leader stressed that the "Americans will not enjoy security until we experience it as a reality in Palestine."

Third: Linking the attack to the miserable conditions in Gaza Strip caused by the Israeli and Egyptian blockade suggests that al-Qa'ida is seeking to exploit the growing frustration, not only in the Arab homeland but also in the Gaza Strip where the launching of rockets has almost ceased. There are signs of emerging Palestinian jihadist organizations that are ideologically close to al-Qa'ida and adopt similar methods of attack.

Fourth: The timing of the tape and its delivery to the media coincides with certain crucial developments, most prominently the failure of US Senator George Mitchell's mission to move the stagnated peace-process forward and the imminent convocation of the London conferences on Yemen (27 January) and Afghanistan (28 January) to discuss how to confront al-Qa'ida and the Taleban movement.

The leader of al-Qa'ida organization is delivering the message to the conferees in London - including Mrs Hillary Clinton (United States), David Miliband (Britain), Ahmad Abu-al-Ghayt (Egypt), Prince Sa'ud al-Faysal (Saudi Arabia), President Karzai of Afghanistan and the prime ministers of Britain and Yemen - that many similar conferences have been held over the past seven years since the 9/11 events but al-Qa'ida remains at the peak of its strength and capable of causing the greatest amount of panic and confusion all over the globe and in the west in particular.

In other words, the al-Qa'ida leader is making it clear that "they have the capabilities and intentions" to carry out massive operations which challenge the stringent Western security measures which are costing billions of the taxpayers' dollars. The most important point which should be pondered is the ability of al-Qa'ida and its leader to dominate both the Western and Arab media. al-Qa'ida's name and its leader's photos have been on the front pages of newspapers and the leading stories on television and radio news bulletins from the Christmas holidays and the attempt to bomb the "Delta" plane over Detroit until the release of this latest tape by Osama Bin Ladin. This is itself a big media achievement. The media is the oxygen of the hard-line, extremist, and terrorist organizations and groups.

al-Qa'ida's leader has scored a goal against the US president who is facing defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan and whose popularity is dropping quickly, whether inside the United States or in the Muslim world, having failed to translate what he had said in his Cairo speech into deeds.