Bin Laden apparently loves America more than the NYTimes!
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/october-surprise-revisited.htmlThe "October Surprise" Revisited
By Anonymous Liberal
Five days before the 2004 presidential election, Osama bin Laden released a video to Al Jazeera; it was his first on camera appearance in nearly three years. It was obvious at the time who benefited politically from this "October surprise." The tape helped George W. Bush and hurt his challenger, John Kerry. Given the timing and subject matter of the tape, it was clear that Bin Laden was attempting to influence the U.S. election, and, almost surely, knew that the tape would benefit President Bush.
One of the (so far) overlooked revelations in Ron Suskind's new book, The One Percent Doctrine, is the fact that the CIA reached this same conclusion about the bin Laden tape almost immediately. Here's a passage from Sidney Blumenthal's review of Suskind's book:
On Oct. 29, 2004, Osama bin Laden released his
"October surprise," an 18-minute tape attacking
Bush. The CIA analyzed the tape and concluded
that "bin Laden's message was clearly designed
to assist the President's reelection." That day,
at a meeting at the CIA, acting director John
McLaughlin remarked, "Bin Laden certainly did
a nice favor today for the president." <Jami>
Miscik <deputy director of the CIA's Directorate
of Intelligence> presented analysis that bin
Laden felt challenged by the rise of the thuggish
Zarqawi, who called himself commander of
al-Qaida in Iraq, and that bin Laden was
refocusing attention through his tape on his
cosmic and continuing one-on-one battle with
Bush. "Certainly," she said, "he would want Bush
to keep doing what he's doing for a few more
years."