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Reply to Ansary - page 5 of 5
by
Tiresias


(continued from previous page)

"The conquest of Pakistan would have to be first.  Will other Muslim nations just stand by?"

Which ones?  Those that are predominantly Sunni?  Those with a large Shi'a population?  Both?  Uzbekistan?  The Uzbeks appear to be offering access to US troops.  Saudi Arabia?  Kuwait?  Turkey?  Malaysia?  Iran?  Bin Laden is described as "a committed Sunni and he regards Iran as Shi'a state."

"You see where I'm going."

I see where Mr. Ansary would like to go.  However, the road from here to there, is not quite so straightforward as he suggests.

"We're flirting with a world war between Islam and the West."

OPEC is going to engage in a world war with its primary customer?  Over Afghanistan?  A state which harbors a terrorist who seeks the overthrow of many of their own governments?  And oil sales notwithstanding, what are the latest figures on investment in the US economy by Islamic states?

"And guess what:  that's Bin Laden's program.  That's exactly what he wants.  That's why he did this.  Read his speeches and statements.  It's all right there."

I don't recall the part about a world war.

"He really believes Islam would beat the west.  It might seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world into Islam and the West, he's got a billion soldiers.  If the west wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of view.  He's probably wrong, in the end the West would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions would die, not just theirs but ours.  Who has the belly for that?  Bin Laden does.  Anyone else?"

Mir Tamim Ansary

While Bin Laden clearly sees himself at war with the US, I find no evidence to support such a contention.  In 1996 he issued his declaration of war (jihad) against the US.  Quoting from PBS Frontline:  "That declaration was limited to expelling American forces outside the Arabian Peninsula."  And in 1998 he issued a "fatwah" which sanctioned the killing of Americans and Jews.

A billion soldiers?  Moslem states united in a war against the US?  But Saudi Arabia has made several attempts to kidnap him.  And if I recall aright, I believe the Saudis withdrew his citizenship in 1994.

It would seem that Mr. Ansary has a penchant for hyperbole.
- Tiresias -
19 September 2001
[my email address]

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