A friend of mine said this less than a year ago:
"Bin Laden issued a public statement that I wish every
American had read. Although I'm not sure how seriously it should be
taken, it listed some specific grievances he had against America,
which might be taken as possible explanations for the terrorist
attacks. It mentioned nothing about hating our freedom, a supposition
I've heard Bush and others express repeatedly."
I later found the public statement he was referring to. It was given to us on Nov 24 2002.
I had thought that one statement from bin Laden is probably not enough to really gauge where he stands in relation to "hating our freedom". But I was wrong. This one statement is certainly enough!
bin Laden never says he "hates our freedom" but this message from him is clear: "we want to kill you because you are not Muslim and do not subscribe to Shariah Law" I think Bush was actually putting it rather lightly! (And that's something Bush has often done - to the detriment of his presidency).
bin Laden's speech can be broken down and summed up like this:
First Osama bin Laden says that we as Americans are asking radical Islamic terrorists two questions which he puts as such:
"(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?
Q2)What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?"
The speech then has three parts:
1) He proceeds to answer the first question.
2) Then he goes on to say why the innocent Americans of 9/11 are not in fact innocent according to him – an irrational illogical tirade of why all Americans are to blame, not just the government.
3) Then he answers the second question.
I will summarize the two questions and provide quotations from the speech.
To answer the first question he lists various attacks we have made on [Muslims], such as in Palestine and Somalia. He says we supported the Russians in Chechnya, that we support India in Kashmir, and the Jewish conflict in Lebanon. Each of these would take time for me to explain, but the long and short of it is no rational person could possibly use any of these as a basis to justify 9/11 - but I'm sure you already know that.
But to give you one example where he's right, Russia was wrong to invade Chechnya. Chechnya was one of the independent states made after the fall of the Soviets and Russia thought they should be part of Russia, so they invaded and were met with armed resistance by the Chechnans.
But from reading his list it is clear he is utterly biased. No matter what the conflict was about, the Muslims are never the "bad guys." (not surprising)
Then he says this a little further:
"Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis…These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so…The removal of these governments is an obligation upon us, and a necessary step to free the Ummah, to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from out fight against you."
Ok, lets stop and talk about this.
1) He says he wants Shariah Law – very very different from a free democracy.
2) He says our government's meddlings in the mideast cause them to attack Muslims (or maybe just radical terrorists – he's not clear who is being attacked)
3) These governments prevent the Shariah to be established.
4) They must remove these governments to make Shariah law supreme
5) The fight to make Shariah Law supreme in this area is not separate from the fight against the US
Does this begin to paint a picture for you of what he is all about? He wants a Caliphate. He wants Shariah Law. He does not want democracy, and he is willing to fight the US because he believes that we do not want Shariah Law for the mideast. He makes erroneous claims that we order certain governments (and he never specifies which ones) to attack 'them.' Apparently he's not talking about some of the most important states in the mideast who basically do follow Shariah Law like Iran who is tightly controlled by the Mullahs, or Saudi Arabia which doesn't have much freedom of religion at all.
The freedom of religion and the concept that governments should never enforce religion is one of our most cherished American principles. Bin Laden disagrees with this concept so much he is willing to use force to establish Shariah Law in the mideast, and feels that that conflict is not a separate conflict from the fight against the US.
Ok, enough about his "specific grievances." He lists many more, but I won't take the time to go into them all.
Further along he says:
"(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?
The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.
The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all…"
So the number one thing that he specifically wants from us and is "calling us to" is to become Muslim. Does this sound like liberation or domination? Does this sound like freedom or slavery? He is willing to kill thousands of Americans in order to force us to become Muslim!
I'm not sure where the logic in his twisted mind works - who exactly would religion that wants to kill you if you don't join? I would argue that that in and of itself is a severe "hatred of freedom."
Then he states:
"The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.
We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest…
You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?"
He goes on to list a bunch of sins he thinks we are guilty of. I agree with some of them – for example he talks about how many drugs we consume and how low our collective level of morality is. But of course I don't believe random innocent people should be killed because many people live in sin. I don't even believe for a second that individual sinners should be killed or even forced to not sin. Such an idea goes both against my religious beliefs and the wonderful ideas that produced this great nation.
So the second thing that he specifically wants from us and is "calling us to" is to stop our immorality, etc. among us. He would strip us of the freedom to make our own laws, rather than the laws of the Shariah. He would strip us of our freedom to be who we are, to say what we want to say, to do what we want to do, to elect who we want to elect.
He wants us living in a world without the freedoms we enjoy.
My friend had asserted that "Until we understand the root cause of the
terrorist problem, we don't stand a chance of defusing it."
According to bin Laden, the way to defuse it is for us to become Muslim and institute Shariah Law in the US.
That won't happen.
So we have to change the mind of bin Laden and his ilk such that they don't want us to anymore.
That won't happen.
So we have to protect ourselves by killing them first.
That is just how simple the problem really is.
There have been ideologies of hate and death since the dawn of civilization and when they occur, there is usually no reasoning with them. They must be stopped with force. Far left America has not yet accepted this simple and true concept.
