Colin
Powell couldn't contain himself. Osama bin Laden was back in touch.
As Powell rushed past the press on his way to a congressional hearing,
he paused to advise CNN's Wolf Blitzer to be sure to pay attention
to what bin Laden had to say. It's important, Powell intimated.
Then
he was off to the races. The Senate microphones weren't even warm
before Powell began spreading the word: Listen to Osama. Hear the
man.
Powell
claimed not to have heard the tape, himself, but he was sure that
the international fugitive would make the Iraq war case for the
administration. Better than an "axis," Osama would provide
the "nexus."
"This
nexus between terrorists and states that are developing weapons
of mass destruction can no longer be looked away from and ignored,''
Powell told the Senate Budget Committee.
There
was the U.S. Secretary of State, acting as a herald for the mastermind
of September 11. Hear his words, Oh Honorable Senators. It is he,
Osama, with a message for us all.
White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer claimed not to have heard the tape
either, but Powell had already told Fleischer everything he needed
to know. "Based on what Secretary Powell has said, it gives
rise to concern about the ties between al Qaida and Iraq,"
said the bald prevaricator. Reporters were invited to listen for
themselves.
Back
in the CNN studios, Wolf Blitzer appeared confused, if not shaken.
Hadn't Condoleezza
Rice hinted back in October, 2001 that the media - especially
quick footed CNN - were acting against the national interest by
providing a forum for bin Laden-speech?
Reporters
for the Reuters
news agency found the events of the morning strange - and strangely
timed:
It
wasn't a United States news network that scooped Al-Jazeera on
Tuesday in breaking word of the latest purported Osama bin Laden
tape - it was the Bush administration, which seemed eager to play
the tape to the masses....
It
turned out Al-Jazeera hadn't even played the tape before Powell's
revelation. The news network said it received the tape just as
Powell was making his comments.
By
Wednesday, Fleischer was in rhetorical flower. Thanks to the administration's
timely heads up and implicit encouragement, the whole country had
heard the Words of Osama. Now Fleischer could get on with the rest
of the script: "If that is not an unholy partnership, I have
not heard of one. This is the nightmare that people have warned
about, the linking up of Iraq with Al Qaida."
Somehow,
none of the Bush men appeared to be experiencing a nightmare. On
the contrary, their collective pleasure was hideously palpable.
Fleischer was confident, self-assured, like a conductor on an on-time
train.
But
hadn't he railed at the press, back in 2001: "At best, Osama
bin Laden's messages are propaganda calling on people to kill Americans.
At worst, he could be issuing orders to his followers to initiate
such attacks."
What
had changed?
That
very morning, CIA chief George Tenet told a Senate Committee that
nothing had changed. When Osama bin Laden speaks, people and things
blow up. As the New York Times reported:
Tenet
told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that he did not
know if the latest message amounted to a call to arms, and was
thus a prelude to a terror attack.
But
the director noted that two previous messages last autumn were
followed by attacks soon afterward. One was on a French oil tanker.
Another killed a United States marine in Kuwait. In a third, a
bomb destroyed a Bali nightclub popular with Westerners, leaving
nearly 200 dead. And in a fourth attack, a bomb exploded in a
Kenya hotel, killing 3 Israeli tourists and 10 Kenyans.
"So
one of the things we're looking at is, he's obviously raising the
confidence of his people," Tenet continued. "He's obviously
exhorting them to do more."
Exhortations
magnified by the Great Satan, itself.
The
homeland color code is bright orange, Al Qaida "chatter"
is "the most specific we have seen," and lives will surely
be forfeit - in what magnitude, no one knows.
And
the Bush crew are enjoying it.
Welcome
to chaos, the essential condition for successful piracy. To understand
the mentality of the U.S. regime, one must grasp the logic of the
pirate class that George Bush represents. Spawned by hyperactive,
speculative capital and politically preeminent military industry,
this new class is fundamentally parasitical. It has few direct connections
to or interest in the well-being of the domestic economy, except
as a source of tax revenues to be spent on itself. Having seized
the state machinery of the only superpower, it turns American coercive
might against the full range of the planet's existing institutions,
with the goal of destroying them.
Unlike
monopolists, who seek stable markets with themselves on top, these
American pirates wage war against commercial and political order,
itself. Their goal is to break down every impediment to their ability
to impose the terms of relations among nations.
The
pirate class are creating the conditions in which they can convert
U.S. power directly into capital. Thus, the war against Iraq. Every
obstacle to unlimited freedom of American action must be eliminated.
George
Bush and Donald Rumsfeld are derided for failing to foresee the
consequences of their insults to France and Germany. They are characterized
as hopelessly shortsighted for herding their Arab clients down a
road that leads to mass uprisings and the gallows. The Bush men
are belittled as irresponsible yahoos when they declare the United
Nations irrelevant. It is said that they are stupid and self-destructive,
with no long-term vision.
Nothing
could be further from the truth. The Bush pirates have a consuming
vision that begins with chaos and carries them to a new epoch -
a world in which order is the product of their whim and will.
What
we are describing is hegemony. We must urgently ponder its meaning.
The hegemonist understands that the existing order - any
order - is his enemy.
In
their war against order, chaos is the weapon of choice for both
Bush and bin Laden. This week, the American regime felt the need
to crank up the chaos.
That's
why they couldn't wait for Osama to call.
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