Many newspapers are printing only redacted versions of Osama bin Laden's statement yesterday. Here is a full translation by the Northeast Intelligence Network. It does seem as if bin Laden's reference to Bush leaving 50,000 people alone in the towers relates to his actions immediately after learning of the attacks, not to a prior warning:

A TalkLeft reader posted this in the comments to Osama Tape: Real or Fake.

When I first read this line from OBL tonight it bothered be for some reason. An hour later I'm wondering if he didn't give something away therein,

"It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the country would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone"

It sounds like he's saying that some sort of specific warning about 9/11 was given to Bush ahead of time because how else would Bush have known to remove the towers occupants?

Interesting.

Someone was bound to ask. Any takers for the theory that it's a setup?

Here are some:

• The Fake bin Laden Audio
• The Taliban Home Video
• Osama bin Laden: A dead nemesis perpetuated by the US government
• The Truth is a Valuable Commodity

Personally, I see a lot more similarity than differences in the photos. But there are some differences from previous times we've seen him:

• no quotes from the Koran or Islamic rhetoric
• no automatic weapon in view
• no al Qaeda commanders with him

Are we sure he hasn't been taken prisoner, dressed up and told what to say?

Update: Transcript of bin Laden video here. Fox reports on this facet:

Bin Laden suggested Bush was slow to react to the Sept. 11 attacks, giving the hijackers more time than they expected. At the time of the attacks, the president was listening to schoolchildren in Florida reading a book.

"It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would leave 50,000 of his citizens in the two towers to face these horrors alone," he said, referring to the number of people who worked at the World Trade Center.

"It appeared to him [Bush] that a little girl's talk about her goat and its butting was more important than the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers. That gave us three times the required time to carry out the operations, thank God," he said.

So where is Osama?

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What's up with the Osama bin Laden tape? Does anyone other than Reuters believe it helps Bush?

Bin Laden, in his first video in more than a year, threatened new attacks on the United States.

"Despite entering the fourth year after Sept. 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth from you and therefore the reasons are still there to repeat what happened," he said.

I don't think it helps Bush at all. I think if anything, it re-raises the issue of why is Osama still out there? Why didn't Bush get him? It may redirect attention to Tora Bora and how Bush let Osama get away. See, "How Bush blew it in Tora Bora"and "9/11's betrayal in quagmire of Iraq"

For more, check out the newly revised Tora Bora timeline--it now has sourced links.

As we wait for the Bush Administration's next terror alert, watch this. Just fabulous.

For a much less subtle critique of Bush, here's "You're an A**hole,also quite good. Add your reaction to it here. [hat tip to reader Rochelle for both links]

Six days left, there will probably be a doozy of a terror alert coming soon. It could even be this one.

Why?

When the government issues a terror warning, the president's approval rating increases an average of nearly three points, a Cornell University sociologist says.

BOP News has the Tora Bora Calendar tracking Osama's whereabouts in November of 2001.

by TChris

"The thing that separates us from the enemy is our respect for human rights." So says Sen. John McCain, responding to a report that "U.S. intelligence officials secretly transferred as many as a dozen detainees out of Iraq in the last six months, possibly violating international treaties."

Sen. Joe Biden echoed McCain's concern that U.S. intelligence agencies need to be reformed, while adding a sentiment sure to bring a smile to the lips of many TalkLeft readers: "I think we ... need new leadership at the Justice Department too."

by TChris

The NY Times provides a detailed account of the Bush administration's secretive efforts to create "a new system of justice for the new war they had declared on terrorism."

Determined to deal aggressively with the terrorists they expected to capture, the officials bypassed the federal courts and their constitutional guarantees, giving the military the authority to detain foreign suspects indefinitely and prosecute them in tribunals not used since World War II. The plan was considered so sensitive that senior White House officials kept its final details hidden from the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and the secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, officials said. It was so urgent, some of those involved said, that they hardly thought of consulting Congress.

The conspirators most deeply involved in the plot to subvert the Constitution included some of the President's favorite advisors: Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, and Donald Rumsfeld, among others. The Times account of their arrogant desire to deny due process to any suspected supporter of terrorism is the first of an important two-part series.

If you're thinking about writing a fiction work that has anything to do with a crime caper involving terrorists, you may want to re-think your project. It didn't work out too well for this published novelist, who was interviewed by fellow novelist Stephanie Bond. [Bond doesn't have a permalink for the interview so scroll down...the novelist is referred to as "Dilyn."]

Bond says Dilyn's experience with being raided is not an uncommon occurrence for writers and is another example of the dangers of the Patriot Act. She reminds us that a vote for Bush will be a vote for Patriot Act II.

The Washington Post reports on the lack of evidence to support an earlier Administation claim of a pre-Election day attack in the U.S. :

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials say they have found no direct evidence of an election-related terrorist plot. Authorities also say that a key CIA source who had claimed knowledge of such plans has been discredited, casting doubt on one of the earliest pieces of evidence pointing to a possible attack.

Why are we not surprised?

Why isn't this receiving more attention? Jim Lehman, a member of the 9/11 Commission and former Navy Secretary under Ronald Regan - as well as Colin Powell - say the U.S. knows exactly where Osama is hiding in Pakistan.

Bin Laden is living in South Waziristan in the Baluchistan Mountains of the Baluchistan region, Lehman told The San Bernardino Sun after delivering a keynote speech on terrorism at Pitzer College in Claremont....

So what are we waiting for? Why don't we go in and get him? Check out this lame excuse:

If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now.

Excuse me? We could invade Iraq to take out Saddam who wasn't a threat to us but we won't go in and get bin Laden?

There's more to the absurdity. We know how he's getting his money. In addition to funds from other countries, he's getting a million a year from his family.