The role of al-Qaeda in the global jihad, and the role of Osama bin Laden in al-Qaeda, have both been wildly overstated. Al-Qaeda is not the only Islamic jihad group or Islamic supremacist group operating today, and Osama bin Laden was not some charismatic leader whose movement will collapse without him. The exaggeration of his role, in fact, was a result of the general unwillingness to face the reality that the global jihad is a movement driven by an ideology, not an outsized personality, and that that ideology is rooted in Islam.
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in Laden explained in this letter to Americans that "it is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions….It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted….It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme."
This perspective on Islam wasn't just bin Laden's. Millions of Muslims worldwide share it, and that won't end with the death of Osama. The US is not – and never will be – at war with Islam, as Obama says, but significant elements of Islam are – and always will be – at war with the U.S. Nothing that happened during that firefight in Abbottabad will change that, and Obama's continued focus on al-Qaeda as if it were a singular and eccentric group of non-Muslim Muslims that is the cause of all our troubles only perpetuates the unreality that has already led to so many disastrous policy errors.
Although it is great for us to exact the revenge to which we were richly entitled, Spencer has it exactly right.
It will be interesting to see how the jihadi movement evolves post-OBL.
I hope Obama takes OBL's elimination as a cover to withdraw from Afghanistan.
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