* Bush Legitimizes Bin Laden's Vision

[GreenPoet64]

On Tuesday night Bush marched before hundreds of troops attired in red berets at Fort Bragg, N.C. The live audience standing at attention stood in for the public before their commander in chief.

<snip>

The novelty in Bush's speech did not come from his militarized stagecraft. His innovation came with his approving quotation of Osama bin Laden. "Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Here are the words of Osama bin Laden: 'This third world war is raging in Iraq. The whole world is watching this war.' He says it will end in victory and glory or misery and humiliation."

By citing bin Laden, Bush raised him to the stature of a foreign leader. But he went further, embracing bin Laden's understanding of the war's dynamics as a crusade. By endorsing bin Laden's notion of a "third world war," the American president lent the prestige of his office to the terrorists' vision. Using bin Laden's statement to justify his own course, Bush legitimated their war.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/06/30/bush_speech/

I didn't see the speech, so I'm reading this for the first time. :banghead: