Gee, maybe Osama is right!

Everyone knows that if you want to see something stupid go to a college campus, and if you are a true connoisseur of stupidity, a veritable aficionado of ignorance, the holy grail is a college newspaper.

Today's issue of The Recorder, a student newspaper of the Central Connecticut State University, does not disappoint. Here is the verbal drool of one Ryan Yeomans, who is identified as a staff writer:

It is the time of the year once again for Americans to mourn the loss of friends, family members and co-workers and to remember all who died on September 11, 2007. But while most of us hold the anniversary as a reminder of those who have passed and of the dangers that still exist everyday, Osama bin Laden has been spending his time grooming his beard and reading up on current events so that he can release a new video to the public. This year, bin Laden was nice enough to distribute two videos within a week, which together contain over an hour of new material.

The first video, which was released on the Thursday before September 11, contains 47 minutes of Osama speaking about everything from the holocaust to global warming. He praises the 9/11 hijackers and, as usual, suggests that Islam is the only option for savior [I think Mr. Yeomans means salvation - LC]. He continues by bashing George Bush and lists many interesting statements regarding the world’s current situation.

Here is where we first begin to suspect that we are approaching stupidity, however more evidence is needed. After all intelligence analysts regard bin Laden's statements as "interesting" because there may be clues to his whereabouts that will help us hunt him down and kill him.

While I cannot support bin Laden’s opinion that all Americans should be killed and that Islam is the only way to be saved, it is hard to overlook the statements that he makes about the Bush administration.

OK, here we have our proof that we are standing on the edge of a great canyon of idiocy. After the obligatory disclaimer that he doesn't support the murder or forced conversion of every American we can get down to the real purpose of the essay - that bin Laden is right far more than he is wrong. ESPECIALLY when he is talking about Bu$Hitler!

Bin Laden states, “This war was entirely unnecessary, as testified to by your own reports,” and goes on to say that despite the Democrats attempts to end the war, nothing can be done because “those with real power and influence are those with the most capital.” I urge you to read the transcript of the video for yourself, as there are countless arguments made against Bush and his supporting Americans.

Ah, it all becomes clear. The war is being fought because those with "capital" who hold the "real power" want it to be fought. Mr. Yeomans, you do realize that in bin Laden's world the people with capital who hold "real power" are the Jews. Is this one of the things you agree with bin Laden about? I would not insult you by asking except that you are obviously a leftist and the new home of antisemitism in the world today is the Left.

Collage campuses in the US and Western Europe today seethe with Jew hatred to almost the same degree as the colleges of Bavaria in the 1920's and 30's. The only real difference between then and now is that in those days they formed organizations whose antisemitism was explicit, calling themselves things like the Student Antisemitic League, while today they attempt to place a veneer of respectability over their Jew hatred by pretending to be concerned for the poor downtrodden Palestinians.

Well, other than liking the fact that bin Laden has obviously been reading Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto and Mien Kampf, what else does Ryan find to admire about bin Laden's latest statement.

The Bush administration was quick to respond to bin Laden’s first video appearance in three years by stating that he is useless, “aside from his ability to hide in caves and spread anti-American propaganda.” White House aide Frances Fragos Townsend went on to say that “This is a man on the run, from a cave, who’s virtually impotent other than these tapes.”

This statement causes me to seriously question the integrity of the White House’s reports. How can it be that a man with more wealth and power than most Americans and the ability to evade our searches for six years is really just hanging out in a cave all day? It seems to me that what bin Laden wants us to believe is exactly what the Bush administration thinks to be true.

First of all, bin Laden is largely impotent today. While he was once a wealthy man his assets have been frozen and confiscated. While I do not believe he is in a cave (I think he is in Egypt, in a suburb of Cairo) he is living on what amount to handouts from supporters.

As far as his power goes that is highly questionable. Almost all of the operational leaders of al Qaeda are known and under some sort of surveillance. If bin Laden were communicating with any of them regularly, as he would have to if he were still in command of the organization in anything more than a figurehead position, that fact would become known to Western intelligence agencies and those communications would be used to tack him down.

This last sentence in the above paragraph, "It seems to me that what bin Laden wants us to believe is exactly what the Bush administration thinks to be true.", doesn't make much sense. Bin Laden obviously wants the US to think that he is still in command of an organization which is capable of pulling off another 9/11 style attack whenever it wants to. Yet the Bush administration seems to think that bin Laden's only value to the Islamist cause is as a propaganda tool. I know leftists aren't big on rational thought but colleges do have some kind of English comprehension test for entrance don't they?

Although it is obvious to me that Osama bin Laden released these tapes as propaganda to remind Americans of his presence, it is also clear to me that the Bush Administration is trying to push their own agenda in response to the videos. By claiming bin Laden to be “impotent,” they are using this video to mislead Americans into a false sense of security, even though the imminent danger of terrorism exists now more than ever because of Bush’s actions.

Mr. Yeomans, you need to check in with the Code Pink or Paul campaign headquarters or watch some of Fatboy Dim's soundbites because you are off message. The left wants us to believe that the Bush administration is exaggerating the terrorist threat so that it can steal all of our civil liberties. This "lulling us into a false sense of security" doesn't fit the moonbat template. If you want to move into a nice cushy job with the mainstream media after you graduate from CCSU you need to learn not to stray from the DNC talking points.

As of late, if you were to bring up the president in a discussion you would find that many Americans disapprove of the decisions he has made. At the same time, Osama bin Laden presents many good arguments against the president and many of his reasons for disapproving of Bush are similar to those of anti-Bush Americans.

Is Mr. Yeomans getting close to a clue here?

Would it be wrong to assume that there is some kind of connection between feelings of the American people and those of Osama bin Laden? As I would love to make this connection, I ultimately cannot because of the actions of our president. If I were to say I agree with bin Laden, that would mean that I agree with a terrorist; under the Patriot Act, I could be labeled a potential terrorist and my phone could be tapped, and every move I make could be watched and analyzed.

I guess not. First of all Ryan you remember the part about how you don't agree with bin Laden about how all Americans should be killed? Here is a life lesson for you. When in doubt as to which direction to orient your moral compass point it away from the people who want to cut your head off or blow you up.

The fact that some Americans, who you clearly admire and agree with, are making exactly the same arguments against the war as Osama bin Laden should be a giant neon sign, big enough to read from orbit, that in the great cultural world war which is currently being fought you have picked the wrong fraking side!

By the way, agreeing with a terrorist like bin Laden does not make you a terrorist under the Patriot Act. Bin Laden believed that America showed cowardice and weakness by running away from Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia. I agree with bin Laden. America did show cowardice and weakness in cutting and running from all those places. That is why bin Laden thought he could pull 9/11 off and face no consequences.

It is a damned dangerous thing to show weakness and irresolution in a world full of predators. There is a saying in the Arab/Muslim world, "a falling camel attracts many knives". It would be well for us to remember that our enemies live by that sort of wisdom.

In finding myself in this predicament, I questioned myself as to who the lesser evil actually is. I ask, “Who has done more damage to the lives of the American people?” Personally, I worry more about the next bad decision Bush is going to make than I worry about a potential Osama bin Laden organized terrorist attack.

You may be surprised Mr. Ryan, but I somewhat agree with you. In getting laws passed which remove the walls of separation between the CIA and the FBI so that they can share information about potential terrorist threats. In getting congress to agree to give law enforcement enhanced abilities to conduct surveillance on suspected terrorists. And in moving the battlefield in the great war against Islamofascism from American cities to the Middle East by invading Iraq the Bush administration has seen to it that there has not been another 9/11-type attack on US soil since 9/11.

This gives you, me and the rest of America the luxury of worrying about Mr. Bush's attempts to grant amnesty to illegal aliens or his new intention to back some kind of socialized health care scheme. Isn't it nice to be able to worry about the normal give-and-take of a functioning democracy rather than whether you'll be in the next building that some Muslim thug flies a wide body jet into?

One thing I have realized from these videos is that while Osama bin Laden remains free, Americans are slowly becoming bound by the decisions of the president to remove and restrict the rights given to us by our knowledgeable forefathers, without whom we would not be here. I can only hope that Americans will open their eyes and see what is in front of them, in order to prevent things from getting out of hand any further.

As an aside I wonder how "knowledgeable" Mr. Yeomans thinks our forefathers were when the discussion turns to the Second Amendment.

Our forefathers understood that the defense of liberty is never easy and usually involves sacrifice. This is why George Washington, who believed passionately in the right of private property, turned a blind eye to his commissary officers requisitioning supplies from local farmers and merchants at gunpoint (stealing) to keep his army fed through the long and terrible winter at Valley Forge. That is why my mother has a collection of letters from relatives who were fighting at the front in WWII which are full of black bars where the military censor who opened and read them blacked out things that might have helped the enemy if the letters were captured.

There is a philosophical axiom called the "doctrine of competing harms" which states that if the evil caused by obeying a law or moral precept would be greater than the evil caused by violating that law or precept then violation of that law or precept is the correct and moral thing to do.

It is better to trespass onto your neighbor's property and steal water from his garden hose than to allow a small fire on your property to become a large fire which could destroy your house. It is better for a nurse who works the graveyard shift at a hospital in a high crime area of Chicago to break the law against carrying a concealed handgun than to obey that law and allow herself to be raped and/or killed. It is better to tap the phones of American citizens who are making telephone calls to, or receiving telephone calls from known terrorists or to waterboard Osama bin Laden's captured bodyguard than to risk another another 9/11.

Grownups understand these things Mr. Yeomans. Do you suppose that you might ever mature enough to come to that point?