Then, after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington - and the U.S. counterattack in Afghanistan - bin Laden fled to the mountains of Tora Bora where he apologized to his followers for leading them to what looked like defeat both militarily and politically, since the vast majority of Muslims had joined the rest of the world in condemning the 9/11 attacks.
At that crucial moment, the Saudi terrorist leader set off on horseback along with a small band of supporters and was surprised to find that Bush hadn't ordered in U.S. troops to cut off al-Qaeda's escape routes. Bush already was shifting his focus to Iraq, which was governed by a secular dictator who had persecuted Islamic extremists like bin Laden. [See, for instance, Ron Suskind's account in The One Percent Doctrine.]
Military Blunder
"In the early 1900s, an exiled lawyer in Europe published a pamphlet called 'What Is To Be Done?' - in which he laid out his plans to launch a communist revolution in Russia," Bush said. "The world did not heed Lenin's words, and paid a terrible price. ...
"In the 1920s, a failed Austrian painter published a book in which he explained his intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany and take revenge on Europe and eradicate the Jews. The world ignored Hitler's words, and paid a terrible price."
But the problem with Bush's history lesson is that wiping out some future Lenin or Hitler would require killing or imprisoning anyone who wrote about political change in a way that rulers considered objectionable or threatening at that time. While "predictive assassination" might eliminate a Lenin or a Hitler, it also might kill a Mandela or a Jefferson.
What Bush appears to be advocating is the end of free speech and free thought, or at least the regulation and punishment of speech and thought that he disdains. Bush is extending his concept of "preemptive war" - launching attacks against countries that might present a future threat to the United States - to "preemptive thought control," eliminating political opponents who might pose some future threat.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the U.S. government from criminalizing speech. But Bush is indicating that he and his political followers believe that, amid the "war on terror," it is justifiable to do just that.
Al-Qaeda Plot
In another chilling passage in his speech, Bush laid out a scenario for labeling criticism of him in the U.S. news media as part of al-Qaeda's terrorist strategy. Bush claimed that bin Laden wrote to Taliban leader Mullah Omar about launching "a media campaign ... to create a wedge between the American people and their government."
Bush said this media campaign would send the American people messages, including "that their government [will] bring them more losses, in finances and casualties." Bush continued that bin Laden's media plan "aims at creating pressure from the American people on the American government to stop their campaign against Afghanistan."
Bush cited this supposed al-Qaeda manipulation of the U.S. media as one of the reasons that "bin Laden and his allies are absolutely convinced they can succeed in forcing America to retreat and causing our economic collapse. They believe our nation is weak and decadent, and lacking in patience and resolve. And they're wrong."
As Bush defines domestic criticism of his war's costs "in finances and casualties" as part of a terrorist scheme, it's not hard to imagine how Bush's devoted followers will react. Any expression of concern that Bush is charting a course toward mad destruction will be attacked as somehow acting in concert with terrorists.
Though Bush has said that his goal in waging his vague and seemingly endless "war on terror" is to defend freedom, the reality behind Bush's grim vision is the emergence of an American totalitarianism where objectionable thought will be repressed and dissent will be equated with treason.
The President has now made clear that he wants the Nov. 7 congressional elections to be a referendum on whether Americans will follow him into this dark future.
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