From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Jun 06 2003 - 08:00:20 MDT
Jeff Davis wrote:
> But homicidal hatred? I don't see it.
> Even a more distinctively negative reaction, a being
> repulsed by what they see as some kind of decadence,
> or corrupted morality. Is this by itself gonna make
> someone so hate-filled that they will come half-way
> around the world to murder people? You may honestly think so.
> I don't see it.
I agree. But be careful lest you labeled as one of those who "Blame America
First."
Osama bin Laden made his grievances known many years ago, at the time that
he first called for the Holy Jihad that led to 9/11 and which is still in
effect in the minds of Islamic extremists. He even put his reasons in
writing for all the world to read and consider. I recall reading that letter
by bin Laden on the internet somewhere, though at the moment I wouldn't know
where to find it.
Despite his sinister nature, it is clear from his writings that Osama bin
Laden is actually an intelligent and educated man who knows his motivations
well. And contrary to popular belief, he and his followers and successors
are not motivated by some kind of jealous envy of the western life-style or
hatred of western values. Bin Laden stated his reasons for Jihad quite
clearly: the Jihad is driven by the belief that we Americans are desecrating
holy Muslim land through our support of Israel and through our military
presence in Saudi Arabia. Now they have no doubt added our presence in Iraq
as an additional reason for Jihad.
This is to say that Islamic terrorists are not merely deranged whackos who
kill themselves in suicide bombings because of some intense psychotic hatred
of western values. That western view of Islamic terrorism is, I think, very
naïve but politically convenient.
The Islamic terrorist believes himself to be a noble and dedicated soldier
fighting a Holy War to defend the Islamic world against the invasion of
Zionists and western imperialists. Whether he is right or wrong in his
perspective is not the point. It is the mind of the enemy.
-gts
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