Blue States Safe From Terrorism?

[dragonlady7]

Dave's reading me an article (from the New York Post, of all places) that suggests that Bin Laden's latest video (god, makes him sound like a pop star, doesn't it?) is a warning to red states.
Analysts suggest, given subtleties of the Arabic words Bin Laden used, that Bin Laden was threatening individual US states. If you vote against Bush, he seemed to be saying, then we will spare you.

[...]radical Islamist commentators monitored over the Internet this past weekend also interpreted the key passage of bin Laden's diatribe to mean that any U.S. state that votes to elect Bush on Tuesday will be considered an "enemy" and any state that votes for Kerry has "chosen to make peace with us."

The statement in question is when bin Laden said on the tape: "Your security is up to you, and any state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

That sentence followed a lengthy passage in the video in which bin Laden launches personal attacks on the president.

Yigal Carmon, president of MEMRI, said bin Laden used the Arabic term "ay-wilaya" to refer to a "state" in that sentence.

That term "specifically refers to an American state, like Tennessee," Carmon said, adding that if bin Laden were referring to a "country" he would have used the Arabic word "dawla."

I don't..... I don't know how that makes me feel. (my first response was, by the way, I admit shamefacedly, dude, New York has been a blue state since before blue states were invented!! Why you gotta fuck wit our shit, then? You bastard! Why didn't you go after Orlando or something? Gah! It's not fair.)

Yes, I think that the United States has a lot to answer for in its treatment of the rest of the world.
But we shouldn't let terrorists dictate who we vote for.

But... God, do I agree with Osama bin Laden?

My head hurts.

Well, I already cast my vote by absentee ballot before that tape even came out. So it's a moot point for me.


But I am exceedingly glad that this tape came out, quite apart from its message, because it means, I think, that there won't be a terrorist attack to go along with the elections. He has chosen to warn us instead. Thank, and I mean this, God. An attack on a polling place or anything along those lines would be the worst thing ever, I say, at risk of sounding like a Valley Girl. Damn cliches for diluting words so that they're meaningless when we really need them!!

Comments

[fileg.livejournal.com]

I don't..... I don't know how that makes me feel. (my first response was, by the way, I admit shamefacedly, dude, New York has been a blue state since before blue states were invented!! Why you gotta fuck wit our shit, then? You bastard! Why didn't you go after Orlando or something? Gah! It's not fair.)


Ahh, that was my first thought as well.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Yes. Upon further reflection I grow angrier.

He is trying to play the reason card, to gain the sympathies of the rest of the world and make us look like bigger fools.

He only becomes aware of American politics when it suits him.

This is how he can exploit the closeness and divisiveness of this election for his own ends.


Bastard.