A fair bit of buzz today about the 12 minutes of the Bin Laden tape that were cut to avoid showing Bush in a favourable light play better in prime time. Some are arguing that there is a Michael Mooresque quality to the script… I’m not entirely convinced.
Officials said that in the 18-minute long tape – of which only six minutes were aired on the al-Jazeera Arab television network in the Middle East on Friday – bin Laden bemoans the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan and the lack of violence involved with it.
On the tape, bin Laden also says his terror organization has been hurt by the U.S. military’s unrelenting manhunt for him and his cohorts on the Afghan-Pakistani border.
A portion of the left-out footage includes a tirade aimed at President Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, claiming the war in Iraq is purely over oil.
A voice in the background can be heard saying “You rucky, Bin Raden…”
