Why We Are At War

Over the weekend, Osama bin Laden released an audio recording. This was given minor coverage in the news, either because the MSM consider him old news or because his organization has not seemed very threatening recently. New bombings were just reported in Egypt which may or may not be related. Regardless, bin Laden gave his opinions on several issues. These include:

• The Mohamed cartoons. He wants the cartoonists killed.
• Cutting off funds to Hamas until they recognize Israel. He says that this proves a Zionist crusade against Islam.
• The proposed UN peace-keeping mission to stop genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. He is in favor of genocide.

This last one is interesting. Supposedly the US caused 9/11 by supporting Israel and occupying the Islamic homeland (Saudi Arabia). The slaughter in has nothing to do with these. Bin Laden's main interest here is that Muslims are the ones doing the slaughter so it must be OK. Also, Sudan gave him shelter for some years and he feels that he owes them.

All of this shows just how far from reasonable bin Laden is. There is no way that a few simple reforms in foreign policy would satisfy him or the fanatics he leads. It also shows that we will have to deal with this fanaticism on issues across the globe.

I'm probably flogging a dead horse here. Most Americans agree that bin Laden is a bad man. Still, I wonder about the writer in my last post who panicked when she found out that Christians ran her son's kindergarten. Does she see the threat from bin Laden or is she too worried about George Bush?