Lahore, Oct 22 : A report published in the Boston Globe has said that like in the previous (2004) US presidential elections, Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden might once influence American voters’ minds if he releases a video now. In the last polls, Laden had injected himself into the campaign at the penultimate moment by releasing a nearly 15-minute videotape just four days before America went to the polls, said the report.

Either of the two contestants – Barack Obama or John McCain – might stand to benefit from the video, the report said and added that in the last election, initially it appeared that Osama’s video might benefit John Kerry, but it eventually resulted in gaining George W Bush. 

In the vide tape, Laden had directly taunted Bush, saying “despite entering the fourth year after September 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth and therefore the reasons are still there to repeat what happened”. By implication, Laden seemed to be saying that he might back off if Americans elected John Kerry - that he, the world''s terrorist mastermind, preferred Kerry to Bush. An immediate interpretation of the video was that Bin Laden wanted Kerry to win, and was already dancing on the grave of his mortal enemy, President Bush.

But, later author Ron Suskind revealed in his book “The One Percent Doctrine”, that the CIA analysts who tracked Laden in Tora Bora Hills felt that the Al Qaeda leader actually wanted the opposite result - Bush''s re-election, claimed the report.

Ron Suskind speculated that Laden believed that Bush’s aggressiveness in Iraq, as well as embarrassments such as the treatment of prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, had devastated America’s image on the “Arab Street”, sending many young radicals into Al Qaeda''s hands.

The election of Senator John McCain as US president could, in fact, benefit Laden, the Boston Globe report said.

Whatever Bin Laden intended, American voters clearly resented his taunting of their commander in chief, and the video helped rally last-minute support for Bush, added the report.

American voters are deeply sceptical. But, when confronted with a threat, they want to believe that their military can protect them - that Bin Laden is fearful of unleashing American rage, and wouldn''t want a warrior like McCain in the White House. So, if Bin Laden reasserts himself, a logical assumption might be that Obama, who has targeted the Al Qaeda leader more directly, would benefit, concluded the report. (ANI)