Nadine, his case has already been made quite well from the sound of things coming out of the Islamic faithful around the world these days. Call him what you will, but, like Hitler, Osama bin Laden has certain leadership qualities. It is unfortunate they are spent on crimes against humanity instead of some good in the region.
I see so many of you here, I read it in the press, this fear that we antagonize Arabs or Islamic followers further afield in the world. I say: who cares? 5,000 innocent Americans were just executed by Islamic fundamentalists. I think right now the Arab world needs to can it and worry about AMERICAN public opinion, NOT the other way around. I am noticing here at SI that I am not the only one doing the slow burn on these issues. As stated a few weeks ago, the longer this continues with no Islamic moderates speaking out appropriately the greater the polarization. It is happening as we speak.
I think that by inviting Islamic leaders to the White House the President reinforced this idea that somehow it is our duty to placate Muslims right now. This is insanity. WE must now understand Islam? The message is: kill thousands of Americans and we the nation will all take a crash course in understanding the Islamic lobby. I think that was a major mistake. It showed extraordinary weakness, not tolerance. That was the message received in the Gulf: slaughter 5,000 Americans and you get invited to the White House. In fact, several of those invited are on record inciting murder against Americans on several occasions in the past.
The sooner America realizes that it has no chance of turning Arab or Islamic public opinion, deals with that reality, and then goes about fighting this war regardless of public opinion in the Arab world, the more rapid our victory and the stronger the message we send to anyone else who thinks to attack us in this manner down the road. Somehow I don't think Osama bin Laden or Al Quaeda care very much about Western opinions of himself. We should return his followers the same favor. Allowing Arab public opinion to dictate our war aims is a joke. I have to say I am very surprised and disappointed it seems this is happening. That is not the way for the world's lone superpower to act. The United States should be leading, the rest may follow. If not, then too bad.
You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists. End of story. |
