WE SHOULD BE THANKFUL (to Providence, and to U.S. counter-terror efforts) that Osama bin Laden’s intervention in our election took the form of a videotape, and not an attack, as in Madrid on March 11. But it was an attempted intervention nonetheless.

As Yigal Carmon of MEMRI explains, and as the mainstream media has not reported, bin Laden’s tape contains a specific threat against those U.S. states that might vote for Bush–and a promised exemption from terror for Kerry-supporting states. In other words, bin Laden is trying to scare Americans into voting against Bush. This is the same tactic al Qaeda has employed in Europe, where it has warned publics that alliance with the United States will lead to terrorist attacks, as in Spain last March. Al Qaeda also attempted to use terrorist attacks and threats to convince Australian voters to throw out their pro-American prime minister, John Howard. In Europe, bin Laden’s intimidation may be working. In Australia, it has not: Australian voters refused to be cowed and returned Howard to office by a substantial margin.