Mark Steyn

Osama doesn’t matter any more

Mark Steyn says that only Democrats and Europeans will be fooled by the offer of a truce from the ‘exiled Saudi dissident’

Mark Steyn says that only Democrats and Europeans will be fooled by the offer of a truce from the ‘exiled Saudi dissident’

You know this fellow David Cameron? Well, obviously you do. But I’m thousands of miles away and I don’t, not really. I mean, I know who he is, and I read The Spectator, and I buy the London papers when I’m up in Montreal. But I’m not sure I’ve ever knowingly seen this Cameron guy on TV and I wouldn’t recognise the sound of his voice on the radio. And if I had to give a speech to, say, some Tory ladies in Banbury about the challenges facing David Cameron, I’m not sure I could plausibly pass myself off as being au courant on the talking points, the new buzz words, the frame of reference, etc.

By contrast, consider this new tape from Osama — or ‘Osama’ (I don’t rule out the possibility that it’s some Pashtun voice-over maestro from the Waziri branch of Equity). The ‘exiled Saudi dissident’ (as the Associated Press described him) had the audio cassette schlepped over to al-Jazeera so he could bring the Great Satan up to speed on his plans to rain down death and destruction on the United States any day now. But, having got that out of the way, he then sportingly offered a deal to Washington. ‘We do not mind offering you a long-term truce with fair conditions that we adhere to,’ said the ‘exiled Saudi dissident’. ‘We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war.’

And round about this point you start to notice that, for a guy supposedly holed up in a cave, he seems to be remarkably well informed about current Democratic party soundbites and media spin.

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