MUCH ADO A BIN LADEN

That guy on the "wanted dead or alive" poster made possible reappearance earlier today, with the discovery that Osama recordings may be in the posession of Al Jazeera.

A sign of a link between Al Qaeda and Saddam? Anything the Bushies could use to their advantage in getting their war on? Let's check in with Bush Cheney and Rummy as they read the Reuters wire:

In a broadcast coinciding with a major Muslim festival that prompted tight security in the United States and Britain to avert possible attacks, the man blamed for September 11 urged Muslims to fight America and repel any war against Iraq.

The boys drop their drawers and get comfy...

"We stress the importance of martyrdom (suicide) attacks against the enemy. These attacks inflicted on America and Israel a disaster they have never experienced before," said the statement, broadcast on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television channel.

Mmm, solidarity with Iraq from Bin Laden, lube it up nice, get a happy thought going...

Any Arab ruler supporting America or providing logistical or verbal backing for a war on Iraq would be "an apostate whose blood should be spilled," it said.

Oh boy, they're getting close!

But then,

But the statement did not express support for Saddam. It said Muslims should support the Iraqi people rather than the country's government.

(snip)

While urging Muslims to support the Iraqi people and repel any attack on their country, the tape said Saddam's secular "socialist" government had lost credibility.

"Socialists are infidels wherever they are," the statement said. But it added: "It does not hurt that in current circumstances, the interests of Muslims coincide with the interests of the socialists in the war against crusaders."

Abort! Abort! Abort!

Sorry guys, no link today.

My favorite touch is Bin Laden's use of the word "socialist", a smear tactic more suited for the likes of Reagan, Buckley, Nixon and other archconservatives.

I don't mean to sound giddy about this. And I am in no way pro-Saddam. However, there is some sad humor in seeing the Bush administration grop and flail around for a case to go to war pre-emptively. There is no humor, however, in the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians that war would bring about. Then again, the embargo isn't helping in that cause either.

Humbling extra thought: As few are mentioning, if we go to Iraq, we're there for decades.

So at the end of the day, Osama wants Muslims to attack non-Muslims. I'm shocked. In all this, I'm trying to figure out where the news is.