An Ominous Signal?

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Unlike the reaction to bin Laden's earlier tapes, however, the buzz of the 24-hour media was not about the tape's national-security implications but about its political ones. Would the tape help Bush by reminding voters of 9/11? Or would it help Kerry by reminding voters that bin Laden remained at large? Both candidates immediately delivered statements saying that Americans were in agreement in their opposition to the terrorists. But the tape quickly became a weapon in their battle. On a Wisconsin radio station Kerry, repeating a longtime criticism, said that Bush "didn't choose to use American forces to hunt down Osama bin Laden" at Tora Bora in 2001. Bush shot back at a rally in Ohio that Kerry's criticisms were "especially shameful in light of the new tape from America's enemy."

It was impossible to determine, of course, whether bin Laden wanted to tilt the election, signal further attacks or simply enhance his standing in the Muslim world by showing up on global TV screens. "Take it as one possibility," said a well-placed U.S. official, that the alQaeda leader's "aim is to influence not elections but policies." He accomplished at least one thing for certain: reminding us that the winner, whoever he is, has a major piece of unfinished business to attend to. --By James Poniewozik. Reported by Timothy J. Burger and Elaine Shannon