Bin Laden and a growing Saudi opposition felt that the presence of foreign forces was an affront to 1,400 years of Islamic tradition, dating to an injunction from the Prophet Muhammad that there "not be two religions in Arabia.”

We could solve that problem by defining Arabia (the western 2/3rds) as to what it was in Muhammad's time. Most of the oil is in the east. Iraq and eastern Arabia could be returned to Turkey, the single solitary country in the Muslim world which is able to feed its population without benefit of oil wealth, thanks to Mustafa Kemel Ataturk, far and away the most important statesman ever produced by a Muslim country. You'd think the rest of the gang would want to learn something from Turkey.

If that's the case, then why doesn't bin Laden terrorize the Turks?

Because bin Laden and his followers would never amount to a cyst on Ataturk's colon.

If that's the case, then why doesn't bin Laden terrorize the Turks?

Probably because they are fellow Moslems.

If it really is this that he's pissed off about, then why not blow up some of the numerous monuments to Kemal Attaturk in Turkey?

Probably figures that this can wait until the fundamentalists gain control - sort of like the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan.

BTW - he is also angry about the expulsion of Moslems from Spain -

Mr. Bin Laden said, "Let the whole world know that we shall never accept that the tragedy of Andalusia would be repeated in Palestine.

What is lost in the mix of what is going on is that the USA assisted Saudi Arabia in the defense of their country, as well as preserving the wealth and influence of Bin Ladens family, and yet he does not like our presence in the region?

More evidence of a true maniac, that either belongs in prison, or in a grave, forth with.

He's simply unhappy that Islam didn't succeed in conquering Europe and the whole world. That's what it's really about.

What he's really unhappy about is the fact that the Muslim world is so backward and poor outside of places without oil wealth, compared to the US

He's angry because in Afghanistan the Soviets would have creamed the Muslims if the infidel Americans had not supplied him with stingers and other gear. And Saddam would have overrun Saudi without slowing down, if the Americans were not there

But the biggest humiliation was that when US forces went up against numerically-comparable Muslim forces in Iraq, we destroyed them utterly, with casualty ratios of about 100,000 Iraqis vs 200 Americans (most of those from a lucky scud hit on a barracks, and a lot of the rest from friendly fire). We showed to the world that the Muslim soldier was patheticly bad.

If Islamic societies are backward and poor, and Islamic troops incompetant, what does that say about Islam? That's what's driving him nuts

That theme of the colonial humiliation of proud Muslim peoples has been a driving force behind the spread of militant Islam during the past 50 years

Shortly, technological humiliation will be visited on this bunch.

We are on the verge of solving the search for a suitable site for the long term storage of nuclear waste.

One man's refuge cave is another man's storage dump.

Bin Laden's longing for the Caliphate is a bit like longing for the return of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe. Ain't gonna happen.

You mean Charlemagne won't be back either? The more I read of Bin Ladin the screwier it gets. He and his followers seem to be trying to recapture past glory by dragging Islam back in time.

Must believe in the tooth fairy too.

According to Yossef Bodansky on Hanity last night, the primary audience of Bin Laden's Western terrorist acts is the Muslim world. By being able to pull off such feats, he is sending a very pointed statement of what would happen in their country if they come against the Islamist movement. These acts are also creating a cult-like following among Mulsim teenage boys, who are also his favorite audience as they are his hope for a "second generation" of terrorists.

Not taking BL's side; I think we (USA) should get out and let 'em all fight it out. Read the Talmud and the Koran and you may arrive at the same conclusion.

Anyway, it could be that BL was referrring to this.

You also ought to go here. Then do a WWW.GOOGLE.COM search on the words "Balfour Declaration" and research ALL YOU CAN about the events about that declaration and about the world at that time.

IMO, BL, if he could, would conquer the world. That must be understood. What also must be understood is what has motivated him to that goal.

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Thanks for the links. I in the process of reading through three of his books (two down, one more to go!).