Bin Ladin "Only" Threatens Pro-Bush States
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is only threatening the Red States; that is any state that votes for George Bush. MEMRI, who entire existence is based upon their expertise in translating Farsi and Arabic into English, has release their translation of bin Laden's latest threat.
Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands, and any (US) state that does not belittle our security automatically guarantees its own security.So bin Laden is specifically threatening states who support Bush. Of course, he failed to show this distinction in his previous attack on New York (which voted for Gore in 2000). However, it remains to be seen if this will work in favor of the terrorists (as their previous attacks on Spain are perceived to have been a terrorist victory) or if it will backfire in their face by motivating Americans to vote for Bush in defiance of the terrorist threat. We should know shortly.
Don Quixote | November 1, 2004 - 11:38 AM
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Category: Domestic Politics , Category: International
Category: Domestic Politics , Category: International
Szdfan,
Good to hear from you again. I owe you a response to an earlier question, will try to get to it very soon.
Regarding this question, the meaning is clear, the translators added the term US to make it clearer, but the word used for state was very specific. The word used refers to the US type of state, not a synonym for a sovereign country. These are two distinct words in bin Laden's tongue.
Here is one source for my comments. “Wilaya” refers specifically to a U.S. state; it would never refer to an independent country. The term for such a country is “Dawla.”
Posted by: Don Quixote | 11/01/2004 - 04:34 PM
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But what does he mean by "state"? Does he mean US state or does he main Nation-state?
The reason that I'm asking is that the parenthesis around US (i.e. US) would signal to me that this was insertion by the translators based on their interpretation. He actually didn't say, "US state" but just "state."