some relevant quotes to consider:
“”there is no more important duty than pushing the american enemy out of the holy land.””
-osama bin laden
“”to kill the americans and their allies-civilian and military-is an individual duty for every muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-aqsa mosque and mecca from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of islam.””
-osama bin laden
“”our god, in you we trust…destroy the u.s and its helpers and its agents. god, destroy britain and its helpers and its agents.””
-mufti of jerusalem sheikh ekrima sabri
i found these quotes in the current issue of the new yorker and i found them to be especially interesting as far as shedding light on the mind-set of the people who were behind the terrorist attack on the world trade center. i also think it’s interesting that in most of the news coverage of the attacks very few journalists have asked the question ‘what do the terrorists want?’ from what i’ve read it seems that the terrorists want us to leave the islamic world. apparently osama bin laden is upset because there were (or are, i’m not sure) american troops in saudi arabia.
i had always been under the impression that the saudi’s had invited american troops onto their soil, but in any case that seems to be the main point of bin laden’s contention.
my reaction, which seems perfectly logical if completely naive is ‘if they don’t want us to hang out in islamic countries, then let’s leave.’ if they want us to leave them alone then why don’t we just leave them alone? i’m not talking about abandoning israel. israel is a sovereign state and one of our staunch allies. but why don’t we leave the rest of the islamic world?
i know i’ll probably get flamed for posting this update, but i wanted to share these thoughts with you. again, oftentimes when i present an opinion in an update it’s supposed to spark a debate and create a dialectic. i consider myself to be very fortunate in that i can present my perspective on something and then have it commented on by some very smart board members. even if some of you write vicious and hateful things about me.
it’s still an interesting and rewarding process…
thanks,
moby
p.s-the current ‘september 11, 2001’ issue of the new yorker is really remarkable. especially adam gopniks ‘the city and the pillars’, and joel meyerowitz’s ‘looking south’, and the remarkable ‘from our correspondents september 11, 2001’.
it’s definitely worth reading. and no, i don’t have stock in the new yorker…my endorsement of this issue is based purely on its objective merit.