November 03, 2004

When I saw the movie, "Forest Gump", the part where Forest, played by actor Tom Hanks, met with John F. Kennedy, I felt shudders all over my body.

If you saw the movie, you remember the scene where old clips of Kennedy were altered to fit a meeting where the character Gump looked like he was right there with Kennedy, and they exchanged a friendly banter. It scared the living Hell right out of me. It gave me food for thought. That segment looked so real any jury would have concluded it to be true.

I'm a pretty outspoken guy on politics and government affairs. I'm the Liaison Officer for the Southern Oregon Militia. I'm a guy a government that is operating outside the limits of the Constitution considers an enemy, even though my strict adherence to constitutional rule makes me a model citizen of this nation -- at least by the standards of the original Framers.

When I saw that part of the movie, I thought, "My God, they could make it look like I was conspiring with any known enemy of the United States, right on video." Believe me, it gave me pause.

This latest and timely release of a videotape of Bin Laden just before Election Day brought back those memories. It was a knee-jerk reaction, I'll admit, but it did.

My first thought was, "Why did Bin Laden release a threatening tape just days before the election?". It troubles me very much.

I'm not suggesting the videotape isn't authentic, but I also know that current technology makes it possible to make such a videotape so real as to fool even the elect. I don't know how difficult it is to authenticate or disprove. I'm not that techno-savvy, so I'll leave that to the experts.

What I do know is that Bin Laden would welcome a change in American presidential administration, so it is not in Bin Laden's interest to aggravate the voters of America right now. I know such an act would only inflame Americans emotionally with the memories of the 9/11 attacks. It would only benefit Bush's re-election efforts.

I don't speak Arabic, so I can't even offer an educated opinion on what Bin Laden allegedly said, and I have no independent way of verifying it is his voice.

I'm at a loss, but the timing and the message are suspect in my mind. That's all for now, but understand I remain open-minded at the moment.

Carl F. Worden

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