Osama bin Lenin.(Insider Report)

In his election-eve video message delivered to the Arab network al-Jazeera, terrorist chieftain Osama bin Laden "repositioned himself as the only leader willing to confront the world's sole superpower," commented veteran foreign correspondent (and Council on Foreign Relations member) Arnaud de Borchgrave in a November 1 column.

The "world's most wanted terrorist" has been "living and hiding in Pakistan for almost three years, where he evidently enjoys high-ranking protection," de Borchgrave continued. This gives him a secure base of operations to carry out his role "as the leader of disenfranchised Arabs and other Muslims who seek the liberation of Palestine and the downfall of the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East and absolute monarchies and emirates of the Gulf."

Bin Laden's message came as the ailing (now deceased) terrorist leader Yasser Ararat was rushed to a hospital in France, thereby allowing Osama a "revolutionary vacancy" to exploit. He is also likely aware of the fact that "countless Muslims, surveyed by the Pew Foundation two years in a row, trust him more than George W. Bush," observed de Borchgrave. "In Muslim countries with a combined population of 450 million, bin Laden was a clear winner as a 'freedom fighter' over the U.S. president. In Morocco and Jordan, two traditionally pro-Western countries ... Mr. Bush's trust level was less than 10 percent of the people ...