George Bush just finished his press conference discussing his views of “progress and sacrifices” made over the past 5 years in Iraq.

Among other statements Bush attempted to counter, was an older statement from Osama bin Laden in December 2001. Bin Laden suggested that, “when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.”

Bush suggested that when the Arab world saw the progress and prosperity of Iraq they would eventually come to see America as the strong horse and stand united behind it.

While the Bush administration has continually changed the reasons for why the military invaded Iraq and what metrics can be used to measure “prosperity and progress” that specific analysis is for another post.

Rather, another question that can be asked is why Bush was willing to listen and quote some of what Bin Laden has previously said and not others.

For instance, prior to the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa, bin Laden states in his second fatwa,

For over seven years now the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors and turning its bases in the peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.

The official 9/11 commission reported this kind of reasoning as one of many motivating factors behind the subsequent hijackings and attacks. Guiliani and the entire neoconservative establishment blew a gasket when Ron Paul and others mention this as evidence for blowback.

So the question now is, by what standard does Bush use in quoting certain passages? Why are some statements from Bin Laden considered legitimate and others ignored?

In addition, Bush uttered at least one non sequitur during the press conference. He suggested that since there haven’t been any further attacks, his homeland security strategy has obviously worked.

However, this fallacious reasoning is along the lines of the old story of the man banging a drum in Central Park. When questioned as to why he is banging on a drum the man replies “it is to keep the bears and tigers away.”  And because neither carnivore was in sight, his plan obviously works. (Similar to the Bear Patrol episode in The Simpsons)

Be sure to also check out “The Fear Factory” from the latest copy of Rolling Stone magazine.