By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
March 17, 2004
Osama bin Laden sent a letter to the “Iraqi people” through the Al Jazeera network in mid October of 2003. In that letter he called for “Muslims in general and Iraqi people in particular, to avoid supporting the American crusaders and those who back them. Those who assist them, whatever they are called, are renegades and infidels.”
He also warned those who “have chosen democracy, the faith of the ignorant, through becoming members of legislative councils” have “gone astray and misled many people.” He condemned those who “have risen in Iraq as before in Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and elsewhere, calling for a peaceful democratic solution in dealing with apostate governments or with Jewish and crusader invaders instead of fighting in the name of God. Hence, it is necessary to warn against the danger of this deviant and misleading practice that contradicts Allah’s teachings to fight in the name of God.” We Americans are the “crusader invaders” and any Muslim that would like some freedom is an “apostate.”
He referred to 9-11 attack by his group as that “blessed day of New York,” when American “losses reached more than one trillion dollars, following the attack and its aftermath” and warned that Iraqis who supported “the American crusaders and those who back them” needed to be targeted in the “jihad.”
He ended the letter by blessing the efforts of the “Mujahidin everywhere in Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya, Kashmir, the Philippines and Afghanistan.”
The dismissible rantings of a fanatic? Well, in Spain last week, 3 days before its election, 200 people died in an Al Qaeda bomb attack on a commuter train. In a major upset, an angry electorate voted in Spain’s Socialist candidate, who promised to pull Spanish soldiers out of Iraq. The incumbent Prime Minister Aznar had supported George W. Bush’s efforts to end the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq.
Is it really possible to appease Osama bin Laden? Can Spain now expect that there will be no terrorist attacks in Madrid in the future? What is bin Laden’s goal anyway?
Actually, he clearly spelled out his goal in his October 2003 letter. Bin Laden wrote that Muhammad said he “wished he could join an invasion and be killed, invade and be killed and again invade and be killed. "This is the path of our Prophet Muhammad …the path that leads us to the triumph of our faith and the establishment of the Muslim state. You Muslims have to follow this path.” As for the Americans, “Never be afraid of their multitudes, for their hearts are empty while their strength has begun to weaken - militarily and economically.”
Yesterday columnist Helen Thomas, who proudly claims to ask herself each morning when she wakens “Who do I hate today?” asked President Bush’s spokesman, Scott McClellan in a press briefing:
Q I don't want to start an argument about whether or not the terrorists came in after you toppled Saddam, but my question is specifically about the message that the Spanish elections sent and whether or not that linkage has essentially backfired, seeing as what happened in Spain -- because you had the terrorist attack, and then suddenly the guy who was against the war in Iraq won. Is there any thought here at the White House about the fact that that linkage might be hurting you in Europe and with some allies?MR. McCLELLAN: You're getting into analysis of the elections. There's a lot of analysis in the post-election aftermath, and I don't know that all the analysis makes the point that you were trying to make just there. I'll leave all the analysis to others, but what we will continue to talk about is the facts. And the facts are that terrorists do not discriminate. They carry out their attacks -- their attacks to harm innocent men, women, and children. They carry out their attacks to spread fear and chaos. They carry out their attacks to shake our will and resolve. But they cannot shake our will. Our will is too strong. And they --
Q Why Spain?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, why Morocco? Why Tunisia? Why Saudi Arabia? Q Why Spain, just before an election -- sorry, why Spain, just before an election?
MR. McCLELLAN: Why Indonesia? Terrorists carry out their attacks wherever they can, Helen. They carry out their attacks wherever they can.
Osama bin Laden is a terrorist who appears to be a world leader of terrorists or at least the hero of many other free-lance terrorists. He has told us what his goal is. We also have many “anti-war” people who seem to think that by appeasing or at least not fighting terrorists they will just go away. Others think by not fighting them and spending the money instead on public welfare projects the terrorists won’t NEED to be terrorists. Only, Osama bin Laden is a very wealthy man. He lives in caves as a matter of choice, not financial distress.
Helen Thomas, who represents the anti-war wing of the press corps, ended her hostile questioning with:
Q Is he (the President) concerned about the erosion of this coalition, apparently siding with Spain?MR. McCLELLAN: The coalition -- the coalition is very strong. I think you heard from the Polish government, which is overseeing the command of many nations and their troops in Iraq. The coalition remains very strong in their resolve and determination to help the Iraqi people move forward. Remember what the President talked about earlier. Free nations are peaceful nations. Advancing freedom and democracy is at the core of helping us win the war on terrorism, because when people have freedom, they have hope and they have opportunity to realize their full potential. And that's what we're talking about. Terrorists want to destroy that very way of life. And that's what we're up against.”
Helen, of course, totally dismisses that notion and anything else President Bush has to say. But we are, in fact, fighting a war and it is a war that will continue, according to the words of Osama bin Laden, even if we try to appease, ignore, change the subject or dismiss the enemy as a figment of the President’s imagination. Osama bin Laden’s goal is your destruction.
Either you fight back or you surrender at some point. Doing nothing and hoping it will all just go away really isn’t even an option.
To comment: Mary@bannerofliberty.com
To Comment: Mary Mostert