Bin-Laden's 9-11 rhetoric elevated since Bush made him a political equal

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Al Qaeda, Bush wage media war as anniversary nears

By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent
Reuters
Friday, September 8, 2006; 9:51 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - With striking symmetry, al Qaeda and the United States have waged a propaganda war this week in which both sides agree on one point: the central role of Osama bin Laden, even after five years in hiding.

A video aired by Al Jazeera television on Thursday purported to show bin Laden meeting some of the September 11 suicide hijackers as they trained for their 2001 mission to strike the United States in attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

It followed a series of anniversary speeches by President George W. Bush in which he has focused heavily on the figure of bin Laden and even quoted him extensively to underline the threat which he says al Qaeda still poses to the United States.

Whereas U.S. officials, after failing to catch bin Laden in Afghanistan, once tried to play down his significance, the president placed him center stage in a speech on Tuesday in which he repeatedly quoted his messages and writings.


article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090800601_pf.html


Bush and Learning Lessons (9-8-2006)

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1. bin Laden has been an equal.

Once he was only a "criminal" fringe element and BushCo didn't care about him. Now he's like a president or dictator without a country. And every day it is more and more a religious war.