Osama cries "Uncle"

Just in time for the election "October Surprise", Osama Bin Laden has finally crawled out of whatever hole he was hiding in and has released actual video footage of himself. But, instead of threatening and promising the US and it's allies with "rivers of blood in the streets" and "roasting our infidel stomachs", he has pretty well decided to say "Uncle!" and ask the US to release him from it's headlock. The Belmont Club has a transcript with comments (a very good read) and here is what I think.

The past three years since 9/11 have not been good for old Osama. Before 9/11, he was sitting fat, dumb and happy in Afghanistan with his friends, the Taliban, every once in a while, pulling on the tiger's tail and running away. Unfortunately, he pulled one time too many and had to deal with the tiger's teeth. Since then, he has been running around from place to place, trying to find another home where he could live in peace and start plotting to attack the US again. Bit by bit, the "impenetrable" mountains of Afghanistan/Iran/Pakistan are being overrun by army troops. The local tribesmen that were so easy to buy off before have now switched sides and are either actively working for the US or at least playing neutral. Osama can feel the noose tightening.

So, what does old Osama do? He releases a video just before the US election calling for a "cease fire" (you leave us alone, we'll leave you alone). Some might say that he did this to influence the US election, BUT, you would be wrong. Osama knows that the US will continue pursuing him until they have caught him, so offering to surrender won't make much headway in the US. However, the European allies and the UN have a history of letting dictators go if they sign a piece of paper (remember Hitler) or otherwise "play nice" (Saddam). Osama figures that if he can convince enough of the UN/Europe that he really wants to live in peace, since they have no real stomach for the terrorist war, they will lunge at a chance to "make nice" with Osama. Then they can use their influence in the UN and the UNSC to hamstring the US and allow him to go somewhere else where he can live in relative peace and start to rebuild his terror network. I'd even bet that old Osama has some kind of medical condition that needs attention, so just like Asshole Very Fat, he's hoping that the French or some other European country will offer to fly him to Europe to get some medical treatment.

If anything, this video proves what President Bush has been doing all along; the only way to fight terrorism is to take the fight to the terrorists. Rumsfeld once said in a news conference that terrorists who are busy dodging bombs and bullets and generally trying to stay alive don't have time to plot terrorists attacks on the US. As I said in a previous post, I don't want a president who will make America safer, I want a president who will make the world more DANGEROUS for terrorists. Like we used to say in the USMC, "If you have your enemy by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow". The US has Osama by his "balls". Now is not the time to let go.