Listen to Zarqawi: Our enemies do hate freedom. (agrees with Bush's view)

National Review Online ^ | January 26, 2005 | Jonah Goldberg

[baseball_fan]

...Washington Post's Richard Cohen wrote, "As the late Susan Sontag bravely pointed out in a New Yorker essay published right after Sept. 11, 2001, those terrorist attacks were in response to American policy in the Middle East — not, as Bush has said repeatedly since, because Islamic radicals cannot abide freedom."

… Patrick Buchanan — allegedly on the other side of the ideological spectrum — has declared countless times, "Osama bin Laden and his crew up there in Tora Bora did not stumble on a copy of the Bill of Rights and go berserk that Americans are free in the United States."

… the notion that America is in a war for freedom over tyranny has elicited bipartisan snickering and guffawing…snip…

…before the cackles could reach their crescendo, the naysayers hit an inconvenient snag. Musab al-Zarqawi, the "prince" of al Qaeda in Iraq, appointed by Osama Bin Laden, came out and agreed with President Bush. "We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," Zarqawi declared in a statement. "Democracy is also based on the right to choose your religion," he said, and that is "against the rule of God." …snip…

Zarqawi's declaration came after a statement by bin Laden himself in December..: "Anyone who participates in these elections has committed apostasy against Allah."

Now, this doesn't mean that bin Laden and Zarqawi aren't motivated by less lofty — or merely different — principles than an Islamist rejection of democracy…snip…But underlying these gripes …snip…remains an ideology — opposed to freedom and democracy. … intellectual founder of Islamism, Sayyid Qutb, wrote in 1957: "In the world there is only one party, the party of Allah; all of the others are parties of Satan and rebellion. …snip" …

[baseball_fan]

The Iraqis and the Arab world couldn't be facing a clearer choice.

[pgobrien]

Let's hope for an adroit choice...

[plenipotentiary]

It's the religion stupid.....(not directed at your good self obviously)

[baseball_fan]

It is no wonder that this radical militant interpretation of Islam has held back a whole people and region. If they can get this off their back, a new golden age for Islam that was once known for its science, knowledge and civilization may emerge.

[maine-iac7]

What "Holy" War? (Remember way back when Pres. Bush said those terribly Politically incorrect words and got blasted for it?)