January 25, 2010

Mideast Peace Would Spell the End of Bin Laden

Bruce Riedel, Daily Beast

Osama bin Laden’s new audio tape message addressed to President Obama is simple and direct: The attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day will be followed by more terror until America stops supporting Israel. Al Qaeda is warning that the Nigerian who tried to destroy the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight was not a one-off, but part of a larger conspiracy and a campaign of suicide bombers. We don’t know if bin Laden is bluffing (we should assume not), but his focus on Israel is vintage bin Laden. Some argue the al Qaeda leader is a “johnny-come-lately” to the Israel issue and has only in recent years taken it on to appeal to angry Muslims. In fact, the opposite is true.

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TAGGED: al Qaeda, Palestine, Israel, Osama Bin Laden

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