Posted on 11/01/2001 3:33:11 PM PST by Pokey78
OSAMA BIN LADEN yesterday issued a call to arms from his hideout somewhere in Afghanistan, urging fellow Muslims to rise up against what he called the “Christian Crusade” against Islam. In his first public statement since the military campaign against him was launched a month ago, the fugitive terrorist leader attempted to muster a counter-attack against the West by exhorting Pakistanis to overthrow their leader, President Musharraf. The call came as America intensified its bombing of Taleban positions and announced that it was sending hundreds more special forces soldiers to co-ordinate operations in Afghanistan with Northern Alliance troops. The Americans will soon be joined by a unit of Turkish special forces, who were ordered yesterday to deploy immediately by Ankara. Despite the first military assistance by a Muslim country to the American-led war effort, bin Laden has clearly calculated that his best chance of survival remains turning the conflict in Afghanistan into a struggle between Islam and Christianity. Three weeks ago he urged his Arab brethren to rise up against their leaders but this time he aimed his rhetoric at Islamabad, whose leadership has begun to show signs of strain. He neatly turned President Bush’s declaration that nations of the world were either “with us or against us” in the war against terror, but stating that the globe was split into two competing religions. “The world has been divided into two camps: one under the banner of the Cross, as the head of infidels, (President) Bush, has said, and one under the banner of Islam,” bin Laden said in the statement, which was sent to the al-Jazeera satellite news channel in Qatar. The station said that the distinctive signature matched others sent by bin Laden in previous statements and that the style, quoting Koranic verses, was also similar to earlier writing. A copy was also received by the BBC’s Arabic Service, which suspected that it was sent by a bin Laden supporter in London. “The Pakistani Government has stood under the banner of the Cross,” bin Laden said. “Adherents to Islam, this is your day to make Islam victorious,” directing his comments to Pakistanis in the military and civilian life. Believers, he said, should not rest before “they bring victory to truth and its people, and defeat falsehood and its people, with God’s permission. Your stance against evil gives us heart. The heat of the crusade against Islam has intensified, its ardour has increased and the killing has multiplied.” The target of the call was clearly President Musharraf, who has been one of the staunchest allies in the American anti-terror effort. In the early days of the crisis he offered the Americans the use of his airbases and he has cracked down on anti-Western demonstrations. However, in the past week he has begun to look weaker. Last Sunday 16 Pakistani Christians were massacred in a church in Bahawalpur by radical Muslim gunmen. The authorities are struggling to cope with unrest and there are fears that key figures in the military may be sympathetic to the Taleban regime, including nuclear scientists whohave been detained by the authorities. Several hundred armed tribesmen yesterday entered Afghanistan from a remote border town volunteering to fight against the Americans. Pakistan’s precarious position is already the cause of great concern in the West, which leapt to President Musharraf’s defence. Tony Blair, during his trip to the Middle East, spoke out against bin Laden’s message and was supported by Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian leader. Mr Arafat said: “We cannot accept from bin Laden any such dangerous talk against any Islamic country.” The talk and the action are likely to become even more dangerous as America prepares for ground operations, which are likely to be stepped up during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “We think that the best thing that we can do for the world, for all the allies in the coalition, whether they are Muslim or not, is to make certain that this war on terrorism succeeds,” Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, said. “That means that we have to finish the mission,” she said. “We do not believe that al-Qaeda or the Taleban or any of their kind are likely to be ones who are likely to be observant of any kind of rules of civilisations.”
I cite the following primarily as a statement of fundamental truth and only incidentally as commentary on the current military conflict.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. I Cor. 1:18.
"He who is not with Me is against Me...." Matt. 12:30a
One thing is for sure...with Islam's "self enforced oppression and poverty with astounding ignorance" we can all be sure that the "struggle between Islam and Christianity" will continue to be no contest.
Islamic gov'ts are self-defeating..By oppressing their own people they end up making their own countries, backward, second rate and weak.
Oh, no doubt about it. God favors Rome.
To God, of this I am sure. But think of the Old Testament Jews, how they were allowed to be punished for their misdeeds. And the country I live in today is in far sorrier state than the selfsame country I grew up in -- that which was once considered evil and shameful is now openly paraded, and likewise that which was considered upright and proper is being forcibly excluded from the public places.
What good, loving parent does not punish the willful child who steps out of line?
This is a failed strategy: try to pit the Islamic world versus the west. No one, other than the ignorant hateful rabble in the streets of Pakistan, have taken the bait.
That is true. Here's another one. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness" Isaiah 5:20.
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