It's funny, I predicted we would hear from Osama soon enough. Well either this or the escalation of terror alerts. I predicted this because Bush's approval rating recently fell under 40 percent yet again. The public support for war is also declining rapidly. Everytime this happens, Bush would take out the fear card and use it on his people for political advantage. He feels the need to remind us the preperator of 9/11 is still on the loose. When people become afraid, they tend to cling on higher authority and expect them to perform their duty by protecting them. Remember how Bush's approval rating went through the roof right after 9/11? This audio tape, like many others, is most likely cooked by the authority. Now that people know (or believed) that he is still out there and still poses a threat to the US, the "war on terror" continues while the real reason for the US being in MidEast is building oil pipelines or rebuilding Iraq, whichever it is. Osama offering truce and diplomacy? Bwahahahahaha. Americans are going to agree with the authority that you just can't "negotiate with terrorists." They're not ever going to forget what he did to us on 9/11 and they aren't ever going to relent until he is caught or killed. People are now shouting "Go get 'em, cowboy!" At the same time it's terrifying for us because Bush isn't going to give him what he wants and we're still there fighting. It will lead us into thinking Osama will most definitely plan another attack on US soil. Fucking ingenious...
I'm also inclined to think the error in the Pakistan bombing is the other probable reason. The CIA has put themselves in the hot seat for intelligence failure. Need something that will distract us, including the paki's, away from the error? No problem...cook up an audio tape of Osama! It is strange that he made no mentioning of the boming.
But I assume people aren't all that worried about the possibility of another terror strike on US soil...I mean NSA is spying on people with ties to al-Qaeda in order to divert any future attacks...right?
I think we all know Bush and Cheney are hoping for another major attack.