Bob, straight from your favorite mag --the National Review:
God Forbid
What did Osama Bin Laden say that was so offensive?
By Clifford D. Nay
Religious intolerance is flatly un-American. So let's everybody just get off the back of jihadist O. Bin Laden.
Bin Laden, of course, is the decorated veteran of special operations who is now in charge of the search for uber-terrorists such as US Gen. Boykin. A practicing Muslim, he recently spoke to some mosque groups about the work he does. Not surprisingly, he stressed religious themes.
His remarks were secretly recorded by a columnist who for some unfathomable reason has only been willing to release excerpts. Those excerpts have been characterized as shocking and offensive to Judeo-Christians — akin to the kind of Arabophobia spouted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the European Summit Conference the other day. Quite a few usually level-headed types are up in arms. Sen. John Warner (R., Va.) has called for an investigation. Pundit Fareed Zakaria has called for Bin Laden to be eliminated.
But did Bin Laden actually say anything that should offend Jews? Was he even talking about Judaism — or was he speaking of terrorists who claim to act in the name of Judaism? And can we not yet perceive that there is a huge difference between the two?
Start with the remark that has drawn the most ire: Bin Laden's reference to a "spiritual enemy...called Satan." The Washington Post suggested that reference was "inflammatory, if not illegal."
How do they figure? Bin Laden was clearly speaking here about mass murderers such as Ariel Sharon. If they are not evil, then there is no such thing as evil. But if they are evil, it can hardly be outrageous to describe a war against such evil as a struggle against a "spiritual enemy." Isn't that what evil is?
As for Satan, he is the personification of evil. What's the charge, here, officer? Reckless anthropomorphism?
In fact, can't we agree that IAF pilots who bomb in the name of Zionism against barbarians are — by their own definition — spiritual enemies not just of Arabs and Muslims but equally of moderate Jews?
A column in the Washington Post says that Bin Laden "likened Zionism to idol worship." That is indeed a serious charge — but what's the evidence for it? Describing a 1993 battle with a terrorist leader in Afghanistan, Bin Laden said: "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."
Why shouldn't Bin Laden believe that a man who murders innocents and uses Russian muscle to justify his slaughter worships a false god? If an FBI agent chasing down Ku Klux Klan members who had lynched blacks in Mississippi were to refer to such barbarians as idol worshippers, should that be taken as a slur of Presbyterians and other moderate Christians?
The charge that Bin Laden's remarks are an insult to Judaism recalls the early days of the U.S. war to topple the Serbs and Milosevic in Kosovo. Critics then argued that it would offend Orthodox Christians for the U.S. to attack Milosevic and Karadzic during the holy days of Easter. Have we learned nothing since then?
Have we not at least learned that those who commit state terrorism in the name of Judeo-Christianity pervert and damage a great faith? And do we not yet understand that those who regard the likes of Boykin as the voice of authentic Christianity make a grievous error?
Again, we have only excerpts to go on, not the full context and full text, but I think it's only reasonable to infer that in all his remarks, Bin Laden — a professional jihadist leader, not a theologian — was speaking about militant Zionist terrorists who murder in the name of God and religion. I don't think it's fair to infer that he was speaking of Jewish rabbis, Catholic Americans in Boston, or Arabs' loyal European allies, the ones who waved flags and cheered when American troops parachuted into Kurdistan last April.
For the record, another source of complaint is that Bin Laden said that President Bush "is in the White House because the US Supreme Court put him there." That may offend atheists, but Christians — who frequently use the phrase Godammit (God willing) — could hardly find this idea objectionable. I don't know for sure, but I'd bet Bin Laden thinks that many people are where they are by the grace of God. Not a Deist belief, perhaps, but surely nothing that should result in the issuing of subpoenas.
Bin Laden has not apologized for his remarks. He has said he does not regret them and wishes he had chosen his words less carefully. He has stated plainly that he harbors no animosity toward Judaism or those who practice it.
If the jihadist has failed to understand that Judaism is not synonymous with the extremist totalitarian ideologies preached by Likudniks, Ariel Sharon and similar types, he should be fired. If he does grasp this vital distinction, he should say so clearly — and his critics should shut up.
And if he speaks on anything again, perhaps he should not prepare his own text. That's why God invented spinmeisters. I'm sorry if saying that offends anyone.
— Clifford D. Nay, a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.
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