Bin Laden's sacred cow dust
By Ralph Reiland
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
Interviewing Osama bin Laden last February, ABC News asked this question: "You have been charged with masterminding the bombings of the two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Are these charges true?"
Bin Laden's answer:
Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds. Peace and blessings be upon Prophet Muhammad, his companions and his kin. Let me begin by stating that we, in the World Islamic Front for jihad against Jews and Crusaders, have, by the grace of God Almighty, issued a crystal clear fatwa calling on the Nation to carry on jihad aimed at liberating Islamic holy sites, and the Ancient House, The Holy Ka'aba, and Al-Aksa Mosque and all Islamic lands. By the grace of God, praise and glory be to him, this Nation, the Nation of Muhammad, God's peace and blessings be upon him, has responded to this appeal and this instigation. We will continue this course because it is a part of our religion, and because God, praise and glory be to him, ordered us to carry out jihad so that the word of God may remain exalted to the heights. If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans, in order to liberate Al-Aksa Mosque and the Holy Ka'aba, is considered a crime, let history be a witness that I am a criminal.
Strip away the bovine excrement and here's the answer: Yes.
The bombs went off at the U.S. embassies, in other words, because the Grand Pooh-Bah in the Sky has ordered a holy war, has ordered his most ardent fans to blow themselves up in pizza shops and smash passenger jets into the sides of skyscrapers.
And "we will continue this course," explains bin Laden, because it's "a part of our religion." And if that's "considered a crime," i.e., considered a crime to kill 10 or 20 thousand people in one morning at the World Trade Center, so be it.
And here's the second question from ABC News: "You warned that Americans would die. Then, two months later, the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar As Salaam were bombed. Were these bombings because of your fatwa, your decree, against America?"
Bin Laden's reply: "By the grace of God, praise and glory be to him, we have repeatedly issued warnings, over a number of years. Following these warnings and these calls, anti-American explosions took place in a number of Islamic countries. Most probably, these acts came about as a result of such calls and warnings. But only God knows the truth."
Again, get past the heifer dust and here's the answer: Yes. Yes, I ordered the hits and "most probably, these acts came about as a result," but, hey, only the Grand Pooh-Bah knows for sure.
There's nothing new in any of this, except that the destruction has escalated. It's the same demonization of the West, the same painting of the United States as the Great Satan, the same faith-based blather, the same envy of our prosperity from the boondocks of the world, the same hatred of our freedom by those who've sacrificed their individual distinctiveness to a collective psychosis.
If Ronald Reagan was still in the White House, he might well be saying the same thing now about bin Laden that he said in his Jan. 7, 1986, press conference about Libyan leader Col. Gaddafi: "I find he's not only a barbarian but he's flaky."
Unfortunately, it looks like we ain't seen nothing yet. "They're looking to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear weapons," says former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen. Benjamin Netanyahu, former Prime Minister of Israel, issued much the same warning six years ago in his book "Fighting Terrorism": "The very real possibility that terrorists may soon acquire horrific weapons of mass destruction and use them to escalate terrorism beyond our wildest dreams has not been addressed properly by Western governments. Today's tragedies can either be the harbingers of much greater calamities yet to come or the turning point in which free societies once again mobilize their resources, their ingenuity, and their will to wipe out this evil from our midst. Fighting terrorism is not a 'policy option'; it is a necessity for our survival."
The problem, says Leonard Peikoff, founder of the Ayn Rand Institute, is that we've been too soft: "Fifty years of increasing American appeasement in the Mideast" have led to "fifty years of increasing contempt in the Muslim world for the U.S." – and Sept. 11 was the "inevitable climax."
At its root, Peikoff argues, our capitulation was philosophical. We were denounced as too wealthy, too unholy, too egoistic and we refused to answer back that we are motivated, and rightfully so, by the desire to pursue personal happiness here on earth in a rich, free, secular and individualist society.
And now? "We must wipe out the terrorist training camps and eliminate any retaliatory military capability – and thereby terrorize and paralyze all the tyrannies watching, who will now know what is in store for them if they choose in any form to attack the U.S.," states Peikoff. "The choice today is mass death in the U.S. or mass death in the terrorist nations. To those who oppose war, I ask: If not now, when? How many more corpses are necessary before this country should take action?"
Best Regards, J.T. |
