*What in hell is the guy up to with this latest speech, one wonders. He's at his scariest when he's having a fit of relative lucidity. What does he imagine he can do about the climate – suicide bombers in Saudi oil wells?
*It's true that the scope of the climate menace to Pakistan makes every other awful thing he's done there beside the point. Sooner or later we're bound to end up with some climate-change Talibans and Tea Parties. The climate crisis is a physical fact, and the fundamentalists are drowning faster than anybody else.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/02/osama-bin-laden-climate-change
Osama bin Laden yesterday criticised relief efforts in Pakistan and called for action against climate change in what appeared to be a new audio tape from the al-Qaida leader.
The audio message lasted about 11 minutes, and was broadcast with a video showing still images of Bin Laden and images of natural disasters, the Islamist website used by al-Qaida said.
The authenticity of the tape and its precise release date could not be immediately confirmed. (((I wonder why they still say that. I've never heard of one of these bin Laden tapes established as a forgery.))) In it, however, Bin Laden congratulates Muslims on the holy month of Ramadan, which started on 11 August 11 and ended 9 September.
He describes the fate of the Pakistani people following catastrophic floods, saying: "Millions of children are out in the open air, lacking basic elements of living, including drinking water, resulting in their bodies shedding liquids and subsequently their death." (((He means diarrhea from cholera. A very dainty, poetic orator, bin Laden.)))
Bin Laden also touches on global warming, the second time he is believed to have made climate change a prominent theme of one of his statements.
"The huge climate change is affecting our (Islamic) nation and is causing great catastrophes throughout the Islamic world," he says in the tape.
"It is not sufficient anymore to maintain the same relief efforts as previously, as it has become crucial to deliver tents, food and medicine."
Islamic charities, some with suspected ties to militant groups, were quicker than the Pakistani government to provide relief to flood victims.
Pakistani and US officials have repeatedly expressed concern that the Taliban and other militant groups could exploit the disarray following the floods in Pakistan to gain recruits. (((This is the "they're much nicer to people than us, and also better-organized" theory of why the Taliban is a threat.)))
Bin Laden urges a "huge transformation" in how relief work is administered, suggesting the number of victims of climate change is far larger than the number of victims of war.
He blames countries in the region for setting aside a "huge part" of their budgets to finance armies without having any impact on the Palestinian cause.
"Spending is nowhere in comparison to what is being spent on those armies," he says. (((Sure, Ozzie, but even if the Little Satan and the Great Satan are both annihilated, that's not gonna straighten out the local monsoons. You're treading floodwater, boyo.)))
