Osama helped to re-elect Bush

THE EDITOR: What was the reason for Osama bin Laden’s dramatic last minute intervention in the United States presidential election? For sometime the two candidates were neck to neck with only a few percentage points separating them either way. In fact, it may be argued that John Kerry was gaining ground slightly, with a chance of winning if he could have succeeded in directing the attention of the US electorate on the real disaster of the Bush presidency, that is, the economy. Bush tried to distract voters with non-issues like Kerry’s military record and his initial support for the Iraq war but what Bush wanted people to believe was that Kerry is indecisive and not a strong leader. Kerry on the other hand was succeeding in focusing the US population’s attention on the promise of the future, on hope rather than fear.

Just when it appeared that the US voters were coming to grips with what they wanted in the future, rather than what they were afraid of, along comes bin Laden to remind them that Bush was right. Bin Laden says that the United States must fear for its future and that his army of radicals will continue to try to attack them on their home ground. Obviously, his message was that they should vote for the man who promises to protect them from these terrorist attacks. Any undecided voter would naturally support the strong decisive leader and that is what accounted for the last minute swing in favour of Bush.

Bin Laden succeeded in supporting George W Bush and his other friends in the Republican Party (remember it was they who joined up with him in the fight against Saddam Hussein and Iraq in 1991) by distracting attention away from US domestic issues and on to George W’s favourite diversion, terrorism. More than anyone else Osama bin Laden is responsible for George W Bush winning the election.

KARAN MAHABIRSINGH
Carapichaima