"Bin-Laden" Speaks - We Deconstruct

Raise your hand... We didn't say 'Simon says'!

This is the full text of a letter attributed to Osama Bin-Laden as reported in the UKs Observer. The letter first appeared on the internet in Arabic and has since been translated and circulated by Islamists around the world. Controversy surrounds whether the "terror mastermind" is alive; a tape proported to be Bin-Laden's voice recently surfaced and was confirmed as genuine by American intelligence services. However a recent report by the Swiss has called the voice to be that of an imposter. We at the Razor continue believe that he is dead, but recognize that whether or not he is dead, there are those living who agree with his statements and continue his legacy. This is much more of a threat than any single action Bin-Laden has done.

So let's look at those statements, shall we? Our comments are in blue....

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,
"Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory" [Quran 22:39]

"Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (anything worshipped other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan."[Quran 4:76]

But isn't Islam the religion of peace? Doesn't it allow the existence of non-believers? Citing the Koran is about as useful to debate as citing the Bible. Both books contradict themselves except for those who refuse to see these contradictions. As such, one can usually find a quote to justify just about anything.

Some American writers have published articles under the title 'On what basis are we fighting?' These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth - as an explanation and warning - hoping for Allah's reward, seeking success and support from Him.

Note that the basis of the validity of the "published articles" resides on whether they "adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law." Bin-Laden continues to treat himself as a learned theologian - something that he is not and which really grates on even the most fundamentalist mullahs - capable of deciding such civilization stumpers as "What is truth?" or "What is the law?".

While seeking Allah's help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans:

(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?
Q2)What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:

(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.

Absolutely right. We are going to hunt you down until every single one of you are dead. Who started it is immaterial. The attack on the WTC was an immoral act, and as the aphorism goes "two wrongs do not make a right".

a) You attacked us in Palestine:

Here is the old chestnut of equating Americans and Jews - as if Israel would have ceased to exist had it not been supported by the United States. This is a fallacy, since prior to the 1967 War, Israel's main patron was France. Israel has shown itself more than capable since its inception of taking care of itself. If US support evaporated immediately, Israel would not fall.

(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased.

So much for a two-state solution resulting in Israel and Palestine. Again there is the assumption that by attacking America, support of Israel can be stopped which would then cause it to "be erased". This is a chilling statement for those schooled in the Wannsee Conference of 1942 that lead to the Ultimate Solution.

Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its*price, and pay for it heavily.

This is an important statement. Should Americans agree to the al-Qaida demands, we still are subject to a a penalty. See below.

(ii) It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely-circulated fabrications in history. The people of Palestine are pure Arabs and original Semites. It is the Muslims who are the inheritors of Moses (peace be upon him) and the inheritors of the real Torah that has not been changed. Muslims believe in all of the Prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. If the followers of Moses have been promised a right to Palestine in the Torah, then the Muslims are the most worthy nation of this.

Here we have the Jews being erased from History. Muslims cannot be anti-Semitic, because they are themselves the only Semites. The Jews, having refused Islam, are worse than Americans in that they have been offered the Truth in the form of the Quran, yet have chosen to ignore it. This is the fundamental reason why Jews are hated within Islam since their very existence threatens to disprove the truth of the Quran. As such we should not expect Muslims from ever co-existing with Jews again.

When the Muslims conquered Palestine and drove out the Romans, Palestine and Jerusalem returned to Islaam, the religion of all the Prophets peace be upon them. Therefore, the call to a historical right to Palestine cannot be raised against the Islamic Ummah that believes in all the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) - and we make no distinction between them.

Here we have a statement which seems to attempt to bridge the divide between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims - a divide that has existed since the death of Ali in the 7th Century. 1400 years later Osama and crew are going to right that wrong. It kind of makes Hitler look like an underachiever...

(iii) The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone.

More vengeance stuff here...

(b) You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon.

It should be noted that the Somalia involvement of the United States occurred after 12 Pakistani peacekeeping troops were massacred by a Somali militia. These troops were attempting to protect NGO workers who were trying to feed starving Somalis - all the while risking rape, robbery and murder at the hands of various Muslim militias.

(c) Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis;

In the guise of the War on Terror. Hoo-hah!

(i) These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so.

(ii) These governments give us a taste of humiliation, and places us in a large prison of fear and subdual.

(iii) These governments steal our Ummah's wealth and sell them to you at a paltry price.

Bin-Laden seems to feel that oil is under priced. He has been quoted as saying that the price of oil should be near $200 barrel when sold to the USA. He seems to have a poor grasp of the economics of supply - demand since such a price spike would leave the Arab world swimming in the stuff while the industrialized moved on to alternative sources and fuels.

(iv) These governments have surrendered to the Jews, and handed them most of Palestine, acknowledging the existence of their state over the dismembered limbs of their own people.

(v) The removal of these governments is an obligation upon us, and a necessary step to free the Ummah, to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from out fight against you.

So much for divide and conquer. Bin-Laden pretty much lays it down that you are with him or against him. From a machiavellian point of view, this is an incredible error from a man whose rhetoric fails to match his actions.

(d) You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of you international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world.

I hadn't realized that OPEC was scared by the American military machine. Gee, I guess that 1970s oil embargo was just a bad dream huh?

(e) Your forces occupy our countries; you spread your military bases throughout them; you corrupt our lands, and you besiege our sanctities, to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuity of your pillage of our treasures.

The only treasure that Saudi Arabia has is oil. And the troops were there to protect them from Saddam Hussein. Too bad, really. 9-11 would not have happened had we allowed Saddam to take the Arab peninsula and Bin-Laden would either be dead or fighting him today.

(f) You have starved the Muslims of Iraq, where children die every day. It is a wonder that more than 1.5 million Iraqi children have died as a result of your sanctions, and you did not show concern. Yet when 3000 of your people died, the entire world rises and has not yet sat down.

But wait a minute... Why are children still starving with the oil for food program? Why is Osama getting all teary-eyed about the Iraqi children when Saddam has gassed so many of them and condemned others to starvation? And weren't the Jews behind the World Trade Center attacks? That WAS you, wasn't it? You might want to tell this guy.

(g) You have supported the Jews in their idea that Jerusalem is their eternal capital, and agreed to move your embassy there. With your help and under your protection, the Israelis are planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque. Under the protection of your weapons, Sharon entered the Al-Aqsa mosque, to pollute it as a preparation to capture and destroy it.

Uhm... You know, there's medication for how you feel.

(2) These tragedies and calamities are only a few examples of your oppression and aggression against us. It is commanded by our religion and intellect that the oppressed have a right to return the aggression. Do not await anything from us but Jihad, resistance and revenge. Is it in any way rational to expect that after America has attacked us for more than half a century, that we will then leave her to live in security and peace?!!

Nope, so if we convert to Islam and kill the Jews, you'll still spank us?

(3) You may then dispute that all the above does not justify aggression against civilians, for crimes they did not commit and offenses in which they did not partake:

(a) This argument contradicts your continuous repetition that America is the land of freedom, and its leaders in this world. Therefore, the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.

(b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates.

(c) Also the American army is part of the American people. It is this very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.

(d) The American people are the ones who employ both their men and their women in the American Forces which attack us.

(e) This is why the American people cannot be not innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.

Well this at least justifies why they can kill our civilians yet we cannot kill theirs. Our government is therefore condemned for being of the people, by the people and for the people. It is therefore ultimately responsible for the actions of its government and should therefore suffer accordingly. However since Taliban, Palestinians and Saudis are NOT represented by their governments, they are not responsible for their actions. But by extension, then neither are the Russians or Chinese people responsible for the actions of their governments - yet Chechen and Uighur attacks have targeted them.

What he does not say is that if al-Qaeda draws on the support of Muslims, and al-Qaeda is the sworn enemy of the American people, then it is okay for Americans to kill Muslim civilians. Ah the slippery slope....

(f) Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge. Thus, if we are attacked, then we have the right to attack back. Whoever has destroyed our villages and towns, then we have the right to destroy their villages and towns. Whoever has stolen our wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy. And whoever has killed our civilians, then we have the right to kill theirs.

Actually, no. This is a nihilistic perversion of the "eye for an eye" doctrine. The linkage of my immoral act to a prior immoral act simply obfuscates the fact that neither action can be justified. The eye for an eye doctrine punishes the evil-doer NOT the charges (women, children, family, or by extension, citizenry) of the evil doer. Bin-Laden therefore could justify retaliatory acts against soldiers - not civilians.

The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:

Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?

Because you never told us, dipshit. There were no demands, no warnings, nothing. All we get is a second hand letter - and one which can't even be authenticated - 14 months after the fact. Exploding aircraft are not very useful tools of communication. They tend to overwhelm such subtlety.

If Sharon is a man of peace in the eyes of Bush, then we are also men of peace!!! America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.

So America needs an Islamic spanky, huh?

(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.

It's going to be hard to get my wife to wear the burka - especially during the Summer months - although I know some fathers of teenage daughters that would like this.

(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all.

It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honour, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their colour, sex, or language.

An equal opportunity religion, huh? Should go down well on college campuses...

(b) It is the religion whose book - the Quran - will remained preserved and unchanged, after the other Divine books and messages have been changed. The Quran is the miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone to bring a book like the Quran or even ten verses like it

It's going to be hard to convert the Mormons, you know...

(2) The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.

(a) We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest.

Trading with interest? Boy, that's one you usually don't see listed with fornication, homosexuality, etc. This may also partly explain the Muslim fundamentalist obsession with the World Trade Center. Still, it's going to be hard to sell this to my gay friends as well as, well, my straight friends who are living with their partners. If I convince them to marry, will that be okay with you?

We call you to all of this that you may be freed from that which you have become caught up in; that you may be freed from the deceptive lies that you are a great nation, that your leaders spread amongst you to conceal from you the despicable state to which you have reached.

So Osama is like some glorified Islamic Jehovah Witness - except he doesn't hand out pamphlets. He murders people.

(b) It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind:

Waaah.. Sticks and stones...

(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?

Separation of Church and state really gets you down, Osama, doesn't it?

(ii) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions. Yet you build your economy and investments on Usury. As a result of this, in all its different forms and guises, the Jews have taken control of your economy, through which they have then taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense; precisely what Benjamin Franklin warned you against.

No credit cards... Yippee! The Franklin reference seems to have caused some confusion. Evidently there is a myth that Franklin warned against Jewish influence at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. This hoax was first published in February, 1934, in William Dudley Pelleys publication, Liberation. It has been discredited as a complete fabrication. For info on it visit this link. As Andrew Sullivan points out, it's a shame that Islam has gone from being a model of co-existance with Judaism to being a model of oppression.

(iii) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants. You also permit drugs, and only forbid the trade of them, even though your nation is the largest consumer of them.

Not angling for the Northern Californian vote, eh?

(iv) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality, and you consider them to be pillars of personal freedom. You have continued to sink down this abyss from level to level until incest has spread amongst you, in the face of which neither your sense of honour nor your laws object.

??? What newspapers have you been reading in that cave of yours? Penthouse Forum?

Who can forget your President Clinton's immoral acts committed in the official Oval office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he 'made a mistake', after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?

Even Osama hates Clinton.Yet another parallel to Falwell and Robertson...

(v) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. The companies practice this as well, resulting in the investments becoming active and the criminals becoming rich.

I know what you mean. You and your dad were pretty good at the Capitalist Pig thing before you got a Quran stuffed up your ass.

(vi) You are a nation that exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools calling upon customers to purchase them. You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.

Flight attendants! Waitresses! How's about CEOs like Carly Fiorina at HP? No one says that she is underpaid. More "Affirmative Action Osama"...

(vii) You are a nation that practices the trade of sex in all its forms, directly and indirectly. Giant corporations and establishments are established on this, under the name of art, entertainment, tourism and freedom, and other deceptive names you attribute to it.

(viii) And because of all this, you have been described in history as a nation that spreads diseases that were unknown to man in the past. Go ahead and boast to the nations of man, that you brought them AIDS as a Satanic American Invention.

Gee, Osama, you almost sound like Jerry Falwell. Perhaps you can slam an airplane full of people into one of their churches next time to convince them to convert.

(xi) You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and*industries.

Earth First! Osama...

(x) Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.

Campaign Finance Reform Osama... Wait until John McCain sees this...

(xi) That which you are singled out for in the history of mankind, is that you have used your force to destroy mankind more than any other nation in history; not to defend principles and values, but to hasten to secure your interests and profits. You who dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, even though Japan was ready to negotiate an end to the war. How many acts of oppression, tyranny and injustice have you carried out, O callers to freedom?

Not as many as acts of liberation, O caller to damnation!

(xii) Let us not forget one of your major characteristics: your duality in both manners and values; your hypocrisy in manners and principles. All*manners, principles and values have two scales: one for you and one for the others.

Miss Manners Osama....

(a)The freedom and democracy that you call to is for yourselves and for white race only; as for the rest of the world, you impose upon them your monstrous, destructive policies and Governments, which you call the 'American friends'. Yet you prevent them from establishing democracies. When the Islamic party in Algeria wanted to practice democracy and they won the election, you unleashed your agents in the Algerian army onto them, and to attack them with tanks and guns, to imprison them and torture them - a new lesson from the 'American book of democracy'!!!

So all evil comes from America/Jews, all goodness comes from Islam. Sounds strangely like the musings of one David Koresh...

(b)Your policy on prohibiting and forcibly removing weapons of mass destruction to ensure world peace: it only applies to those countries which you do not permit to possess such weapons. As for the countries you consent to, such as Israel, then they are allowed to keep and use such weapons to defend their security. Anyone else who you suspect might be manufacturing or keeping these kinds of weapons, you call them criminals and you take military action against them.

(c)You are the last ones to respect the resolutions and policies of International Law, yet you claim to want to selectively punish anyone else who does the same. Israel has for more than 50 years been pushing UN resolutions and rules against the wall with the full support of America.

(d)As for the war criminals which you censure and form criminal courts for - you shamelessly ask that your own are granted immunity!! However, history will not forget the war crimes that you committed against the Muslims and the rest of the world; those you have killed in Japan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Iraq will remain a shame that you will never be able to escape. It will suffice to remind you of your latest war crimes in Afghanistan, in which densely populated innocent civilian villages were destroyed, bombs were dropped on mosques causing the roof of the mosque to come crashing down on the heads of the Muslims praying inside. You are the ones who broke the agreement with the Mujahideen when they left Qunduz, bombing them in Jangi fort, and killing more than 1,000 of your prisoners through suffocation and thirst. Allah alone knows how many people have died by torture at the hands of you and your agents. Your planes remain in the Afghan skies, looking for anyone remotely suspicious.

Next time one flies over head, why don't you wave at it?

(e)You have claimed to be the vanguards of Human Rights, and your Ministry of Foreign affairs issues annual reports containing statistics of those countries that violate any Human Rights. However, all these things vanished when the Mujahideen hit you, and you then implemented the methods of the same documented governments that you used to curse. In America, you captured thousands the Muslims and Arabs, took them into custody with neither reason, court trial, nor even disclosing their names. You issued newer, harsher laws.

What happens in Guatanamo is a historical embarrassment to America and its values, and it screams into your faces - you hypocrites, "What is the value of your signature on any agreement or treaty?"

Slamming airliners into buildings, blowing up school buses, machine gunning worshippers in temples - and you talk about human rights?

(3) What we call you to thirdly is to take an honest stance with yourselves - and I doubt you will do so - to discover that you are a nation without principles or manners, and that the values and principles to you are something which you merely demand from others, not that which you yourself must adhere to.

That's the problem with freedom. It allows people to do what they want and to tolerate each other. It does terrible things to manners. I mean Americans don't even know which fork to use? It drives the French absolutely nuts.

(4) We also advise you to stop supporting Israel, and to end your support of the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians against the Chechens and to also cease supporting the Manila Government against the Muslims in Southern Philippines.

How about we support them and wipe you and your kind of the face of the earth first? Then we'll stop supporting them. After all, we didn't support the Russians until you attacked us. We didn't even support the Indians until you attacked us. Your power is amazing. One hour of "Islamic Justice" and we unite with the rest of the world - including enemies we were at war with for over 50 years...

(5) We also advise you to pack your luggage and get out of our lands. We desire for your goodness, guidance, and righteousness, so do not force us to send you back as cargo in coffins.

??? Goodness, guidance, righteousness? Can we give you Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake instead?

(6) Sixthly, we call upon you to end your support of the corrupt leaders in our countries. Do not interfere in our politics and method of education. Leave us alone, or else expect us in New York and Washington.

So you can meddle in our affairs - demand that we give up the religions and secular human values of our birth right. You can send our men and women careening 100 stories down to the pavement, and you want US to leave YOU alone? Until when? You get another bug up your butt and get pissed at us again? Perhaps our women will wear their burkas wrong, or your truth won't jibe with our truth.

(7) We also call you to deal with us and interact with us on the basis of mutual interests and benefits, rather than the policies of sub dual, theft and occupation, and not to continue your policy of supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters for you.

If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation. The Nation of Monotheism, that puts complete trust on Allah and fears none other than Him. The Nation which is addressed by its Quran with the words: "Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him if you are believers. Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of believing people. And remove the anger of their (believers') hearts. Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." [Quran9:13-1]

More Quran quotes follow...

It's ironic that at the dawn of the 21st Century we are dealing with a guy who wants to party like it's 1299.

What all the above boils down to is resentment for the success of Western Civilization - for the feudal kingdoms that got their butts kicked out of the Holy Land in the 13th Century, had their own reformation and renaissance and enlightenment - and now govern the state of humanity's affairs. During the past 700 years Islam has stagnated. Instead of analyzing why their civilization hasn't gone anywhere, they blame the Jews and Western Civilization in general. They cannot see that the Ottoman Empire collapsed under its own corrupted weight and that Nasser's failures to unite the Arab world were caused by the Arab's themselves and had nothing to do with the Jews. Only Ataturk had the brains and strength to unite a corner of the Islamic World, and he did it by keeping Islam at bay.

So instead of creating something within Islam to rival the West, Osama has taken the easiest route: he will destroy the West. He believes that he can do it by taking out a few buildings and jacking the price of oil up to $200 a barrel. He is a romantic, filled with the stories of Saladin and dreams of past glory - hence the obsession with the medieval Caliphate.

In the process, he has underestimated the power of Western Civilization and its greatest proponent, the United States and the US is not going to rest until he and his type are dead. So whether Bin-Laden wrote the letter or not is immaterial.