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New Video, Same Message from Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden has been one busy recording artist?err, terrorist. In the span of 48 hours, the Saudi-born leader of al-Qaeda has released two recordings that have not differed much from the tone or goals of previous propaganda messages, exhorting insurgents in Iraq to continue their killing, exhorting Muslims to continue killing Jews and Crusaders, and so on and so forth. So why does the media continue to report on these messages, when nothing inherently new or constructive is coming from them? We know bin Laden is still alive. But do we really care?

The thing is, the War on Terror has grown beyond simply finding and killing the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America. The Taliban was ousted in Afghanistan in part for not giving up bin Laden, but also so that the war-torn Afghan lands would no longer be used as a giant training camp and safe-haven for Islamic terrorists. The invasion of Iraq, ostensibly started to find weapons of mass destruction, has turned into a war to create a stable democracy since the ouster of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, who is on trial in Baghdad for war crimes.

The bin Laden recordings are there to remind us that he is out there. We?re supposed to fear him, because he can still order attacks. We?re supposed to fear a cave-dwelling Arab millionaire, who cannot walk around uncovered because he?ll likely be captured or killed by U.S., British, or Pakistani agents. Really, the media would be better off to not give Osama bin Laden any face time than he already gets. He?s got his platform. We know what he stands for: mass murder. So why encourage him?