LTTE Help needed - Bush/bin Laden and terror attacks pre & post 9/11

[NewJeffCT]

I'm writing a letter to the editor (rough draft below.. comments welcome) in response to a person saying that Osama bin Laden is a leader that wants Kerry to win. Where can I get stats on the number of Al Qaeda attacks prior to 9/11 and post 9/11. I know the post 9/11 number is higher, but I cannot find good data as I'm pretty lame with Google.

Thanks
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In response to your letter writer from Monday who claimed that Osama bin Laden is a foreign leader that wants John Kerry to win the election, I say that is hogwash.

First off, Kerry’s actual quote was, 'more leaders,' not 'foreign leaders.' The Boston Globe did correct their error. More leaders could very well have meant the head of the firefighter's union, but the Right Wing media either ignored the correction or liked the foreign leaders angle better, as they kept hammering away at 'foreign leaders' and pretty soon, the conventional wisdom was that he said 'foreign leaders' and the correction was lost in the bluster.

Second, it is quite obvious that Osama bin Laden would love for George W. Bush to win the 2004 election. The Bush family has long been closely associated with the bin Ladens. In fact, George W. Bush's first business venture, Arbusto Energy, was financed by Osama's brother Salem. Too bad W. was the one man that could not find oil in Texas. And, while every non military airplane after 9/11 was grounded, there was one exception – a flight approved by the highest levels of the US government that allowed known terrorist financiers, including members of the bin Laden family and the Saudi royal family, to escape the country virtually unquestioned.

Third, Bush's invasion of Iraq is a wonderful recruiting tool for Al Qaeda. Even Bush's own Secretary of Defense Donald Rusmfeld wondered in his infamous "long, hard slog" leaked memo if we were creating more terrorists than we were catching. As Richard Clarke said, invading Iraq for 9/11 is the equivalent of if FDR invaded Mexico in response to Pearl Harbor.

Fourth, Bush has already appeased bin Laden on his major reason for attacking the United States by withdrawing US troops from Saudi Arabia only a few months after the September 11 attacks.

Fifth, Al Qaeda has certainly been a lot more active worldwide since 9/11 than before 9/11. They have had X attacks in the 3 years prior to 9/11 and Y attacks since 9/11.

[JHB]

1. Bush & Bin Laden

The reason Osama would love Bush to remain in the oval office doesn't have to do with their families' shared history, it has to do with Osama's Wahabbist worldview, where Islam is being "kept down" (and not in its God-commanded place ruling all it surveys) and having its wealth stolen thanks to corruption and outright attacks from the West, especially the U.S. By attacking Iraq (even though Saddam was a secular ruler and thus part of the corruption in Osama's view) and engaging in a "muscular", militarily-threatening foriegn policy towards other muslim countries, Bush is acting EXACTLY the way Osama says the West acts.

Osama's goal in directing his terrorist attacks has been to goad the West (and America in particular) into a great war that would unite the Muslim people and carry them forward to what he sees as their God-given destiny. Bush's Iraq adventurism couldn't have aided that goal more if he'd been following a script.

[troublemaker]

2. The Spanish bombers endorsed Bush. Really.

I don't have a link but it ought be easy to find--it was a big story for a few days.

[NewJeffCT]

3. I remember that one

But, I don't remember it being in the US media (shocker!!), and I thought maybe it was one of those urban legends.

[NewJeffCT]

4. no help here?

I was hoping to find the source of the number of Al Qaeda attacks pre 9/11 and post 9/11?

Thanks