Move over Oprah! Welcome to the Osama Bin Laden Book Club. In his most recent video message, Bin Laden extols the works of the leftist author Noam Chomsky and he also directs Americans to read the book Imperial Hubris written by former CIA analyst and Bush critic Michael Scheuer. Scheuer places the blame for the turmoil in Iraq and the Middle East squarely on Bush, and Chomsky wrote of 9/11, "As atrocities go it doesn't rank very high." Indeed for Chomsky the only significance of 9/11 was that usually it is America that is responsible for mass atrocities while "for the first time the guns have been directed the other way. That is dramatic change." Chomsky, like Bin Laden, takes the view that we had it coming.
Bin Laden has been extolling the works of left-wing pundits for a few years now. In his 2004 message, delivered right before the presidential election, Bin Laden implored Americans to read the works of leftist Robert Fisk to get an "unbiased" view of why America was to blame for Muslim woes. A prolific author and far-left writer for the London Independent, Fisk is the British equivalent of Chomsky: anti-Americanism runs in his veins. And in January 2006 Bin Laden championed the book Rogue State written by the liberal writer William Blum, who writes for The Progressive and other leftist publications. Blum has called on America to withdraw from the Middle East and "give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured" by American troops.
Prior to 9/11, Bin Laden's messages made no distinctions among Americans: we were all evil. But since then Bin Laden has changed his tune. Apparently he considers some Americans like Bush, Cheney and Wolfowitz to be the very incarnations of the Great Satan, while other Americans--inevitably on the left--get globally-publicized book blurbs often resulting in a sales boost. Interestingly Blum reacted to the Bin Laden endorsement by telling the Washington Post, "I'm not repulsed and I'm not going to pretend that I am. If he (Bin Laden) shares with me a deep dislike for certain aspects of U.S. foreign policy...I think it's good that he shares those views." Blums fails to mention that more than 3,000 Americans died as a result of Bin Laden acting on his convictions.
Why, you may ask, would Bin Laden praise these leftist critics of U.S. foreign policy? First, he recognizes that there are many on the left who hate Bush as much as he does and who share his desire that Bush's war in Iraq, and Bush's foreign policy more generally, end in complete failure. Surely Bin Laden doesn't share the permissive social values of the left, but he has figured out that the enemy of his enemy is his de facto ally, working with him toward a common goal. Second, Bin Laden recognizes that he couldn't possibly convince Americans to pull out of Iraq. Fortunately for him he doesn't have to. There is already a political movement in America, led by the pundits and activists of the left, who are working overtime and without pay to secure Bin Laden's chief objectives. Thus the chief architect of 9/11 can simply refer Americans to their own homegrown leftists in order to get the Bin Laden line.
Does the term "useful idiot" ring a bell?
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 4)
1. Yes, "useful idiot" DOES ring a bell...I think it is listed under "Dinesh D'Souza. Obviously Stanford Fellows do not have to take Logic 101. Dinesh is, as usual, making an ad hominem argument. bin Laden is evil, therefore everything he says is wrong. Bush is good, therefore everything he says and does is right. This is the thinking one would expect of, perhaps, a 10 year old, not a Stanford Fellow. SOME of what bin Laden says, good or evil of a person as he is, is true. SOME of what Bush says, goor or evil of a person as he is, is true. Other things for both are false. Simply because bin Laden is a terrorist it doesn't make every observation he makes false, any more than being President of the United States confers infallibility. bin Laden is quite right, as is Chomsky and others, in saying that the United States has killed many more civilians than 3,000. It is U.S. policy. We don't even hide it, and it is easy to confirm on the Web. We simply have our justifications for the evil we do. Only knee-jerk right wingers and "America firsters" cannot see that America has been a very mixed force in the world. Blind fools...sowing the seeds of our own destruction.
One may also disapprove of BOTH bin Laden and the U.S. government...and I do. Killing civilians, whether 3,000 or the over 100,000 Muslim civilians WE have killed, is morally wrong. bin Laden is a hypocrite, but he isn't wrong about his facts. It is WE who spin lies about facts. Unfortunately, bin Laden doesn't have to do so...which still gives him NO excuse for planning 9/11. But we have NO excuse for Iraq or Afghanistan and the civilians we have killed there, either. I'm sure I'll be called every name in the proverbial book by the flatheads and right wingnuts. Polemicize away. I've lost hope that these folks can follow even a shred of a logical argument. They have flags for brains.
John at 3:52AM on Sep 10th 2007
2. "Blum fails to mention that more than 3,000 Americans died as a result of Bin Laden acting on his convictions." YOU fail to mention that close to 4,000 Americans died as a result of BUSH acting on his convictions, not to mention the countless Iraqi deaths and displacements. Moron.
BlindAmerican at 10:18PM on Sep 11th 2007
3. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAM: EVIL IN THE NAME OF GOD
Osama's latest threat has told the US to convert to Islam. This request is per 9:29 of the Koran.
"Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low."
Now Muslims can murder 300,000,000 infidel Americans as a Law of God.
"Lo! Allah hath bought from the believers their lives and their wealth because the Garden will be theirs: they shall fight in the way of Allah and shall slay and be slain "9:111
9:111 is the teaching that has been used by Muhammad and his lieutenants to mobilize the suicide bombers, the beheaders, the jihadists to kill and slaughter millions. An estimated 270,000,000 people have been murdered because of 9:111 over the past 1400 years. No ALLAH would ever teach 9:111 for if ALLAH gave such a law He would be the greatest killer in all the universe not an ALLAH of love and peace and goodness but a mass murderer on the scale of a Hitler or Stalin or Muhammad.
We face a crazy and insane situation. How is it possible that such an evil ideology (not religion) invented by an evil man who owned slaves, raped slaves, beheaded prisoners, sold women and children into slavery, looted and pillaged the property of murdered infidels, raped a child, created a demented and depraved Paradise of whore virgins called (Hurs a sub species of Homo sapiens) who re – virginate after sex, and granted Muslim men eternal hard – ons – be posing such a grave threat worldwide to democracy and freedom.
Any normal person reading the Koran immediately realizes that the hate, terror, violence pouring from the pages is not the word of God. And the second realization is that the Koran is all about Muhammad. The Koran verses are the teachings of Muhammad. There never were any so called revelations from ALLAH to Muhammad – the only revelations were from Muhammad to Muhammad. That no God who is God would ever create such an evil sexually depraved Paradise for murderers who kill and are killed in the service of God. It’s all ridiculous and laughable if it were not so dangerous.
The biggest problem we face in our struggle is that the political, media, and intellectual elites are making criticism of Islam off limits by labeling such criticism Islamophobia. These elites expect us to bow down before this evil craziness.
Nobody cares if Islam is a religion in which people pray 5 times a day, wash their feet, fast for one month, do not use alcohol etc. That would be wonderful. BUT IT IS NOT
Islam is a declaration of war against infidels. This war is permanent until all the infidels have converted, paid a submission tax or have been murdered. This is the LAW OF GOD AS SET DOWN IN THE KORAN
150,000 % of all Muslims believe the Koran is the divine word of God – the laws of God. The Koran remains for all Muslims, not just "fundamentalists," the uncreated word of God Himself. It is valid for all times and places; its ideas are absolutely true and beyond all criticism. To question it is to question the very word of God, and hence blasphemous. A Muslim's duty is to believe it and obey its divine commands.
About 67% of the Koran of Mecca deals with punishing unbelievers for merely disagreeing with Mohammed. Over 50% of the Koran of Medina deals with hypocrites and jihad against unbelievers. Nearly 75% of the Sira deals with jihad. About 20% of the Hadith by Bukhari is about jihad. The majority of the doctrine is political and it is all violent.
Until Muslims declare that the Koran is not the divine word of God, and renounce, denounce and remove from the Koran - the close to 1000 teachings of hate, terror, violence etc – TEACHINGS WHICH HAVE ABSOLURELY NO RELIGIOUS MERIT - teachings like 9:111 9:29, 9:50 4:24, 4:34 etc etc as well as abolishing the Islamic Sexual Paradise of Virgins and publish a new modern Koran we must oppose:
1. Separate schools for Muslims.
2. As stated above until Islam is reformed and all the evil teachings removed and a new Koran printed, we should not allow any new Mosques to be built.
3. This includes removing from Islam this evil depraved Islamic Paradise.
4. We must demand the total and complete equality of women and all races.
5. The ending of slavery and raping of slaves in Islam..
6. The abolishment of Sharia law.
As I said - common sense and normal reason would dictate that no one could believe in a religion that sanctions the murder of people, owing slaves, raping slaves etc as Laws of God.
We cannot allow Muslims to preach that they believe in all peace and love but refuse to acknowledge that the Koran is not the word of God. We must demand that they renounce, denounce, and remove from the Koran the teachings of hate and violence that fills the Koran. We must not treat Islam WITH ANY RESPECT AS A RELIGION BUT WITH DISTAIN AS AN EVIL IDEOLOGY UNTIL IT IS TOTALLY REFORMED.
Western intellectuals and moderate Muslims by not challenging the evil of Islam - who do not renounce, and denounce all violence in the Koran WITHOUT EQUIVATION are, by leaving these violent and abhorrent teachings in the Koran, in effect saying that these teachings are NORMAL. They are acquiescing to evil. Once you accommodate evil, you lose your moral center and become willingly or unwillingly an accomplice to evil. You cannot be a Good Muslim – pray 5 times a day etc – and ignore the evil – the moral black hole that lies at very the heart of Islam.
The greatest danger we face is that a Muslim will smuggle a nuclear device into a major Western city and kill millions in the name of and to the greater glory of ALLAH. The second greatest danger we face is the drip, drip loss of our freedoms through this process of Islamic appeasement.
We can no longer allow Peace Loving Muslims to declare Islam as a religion of Peace and Love and tolerance etc while leaving in the Koran and Islamic texts -teachings of terror, death and destruction, subrogation of women, intolerance, hate etc. We can no longer allow these Muslims to live in a fantasy world of an ALLAH of all Goodness and Muhammad – The Prophet of Peace while the Koran contains teachings of a hateful, murderous ALLAH – the ANTI ALLAH. By demanding that Peace Loving Muslims prove that they are Truly Peace Loving – by removing these evil teachings from the Koran – will be a TRUE MOMENT OF CATHARSIS FOR ISLAM.
By,
Larry Houle
www.godofreason.com
intermedusa@yahoo.com
personalrep1 at 7:33AM on Sep 10th 2007
4. I don't think Blum was EVADING the fact that 3,000 Americans died on 9/11 - I think that is well known, and acknowledging that fact takes nothing away from his statement: "I'm not repulsed and I'm not going to pretend that I am. If he (Bin Laden) shares with me a deep dislike for certain aspects of U.S. foreign policy...I think it's good that he shares those views." Indeed, if, as many reasonable scholars, writers and journalists have argued quite convincingly, it is "certain aspects of U.S foreign policy" which can be said to share the blame for 9/11 with the hijackers who carried the atrocity out; then it is quite conceivable that the 3,000 Americans killed as a result of "certain aspects of U.S foreign policy" on 9/11 one of the very reasons Blum holds such deep dislike for it!
And when Chomsky said of 9/11 that "As atrocities go it doesn't rank very high", in context with an objective look at the massive death-tolls caused by terrorism throughout history, including state-sponsored terror, he is empirically right, even if stating such a truth might seem insensitive to those who lost friends or family on 9/11.
One need only look at the massive death-toll of the current Iraq war (entered into without justification) to see that, with 71,510 - 78,081 non-combtants killed so far (according to Iraq Body Count), there have been much bigger atrocities in the world than that which occured on September 11th 2001!
DaN McKee at 7:46AM on Sep 10th 2007
5. About a year ago you stated that American Leftists were the true enemies of Islamic extremists, and they alone were the primary reason why Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11. Now you're saying that American leftists are the allies of Al-Qaeda. I know that on the right there is this common belief that leftists would rather ally with bin Laden than George W. Bush, but this is total BS. (By the way, I'm not a leftist whatsoever and people like Chomsky make me sick)
Like most Americans, I hate bin Laden with a passion, and while I feel inclined to describe him as an evil genius, I can't help but think the man is a complete numbskull because of such left-friendly comments. Does he really think that by identifying himself with left-leaning Americans that he will allow politicians of the left to come to power? I mean, he must understand that with the degree to which Americans hate him, that allying with any group of Americans will ultimately hurt that group, right?
Although, he still states that America needs to embrace Islam before he even thinks about ending his fatwa against the US. Probably not something that the American left (or right) is going to take under consideration. But there are some on the left who are also vehemently opposed to extending the counter-terrorism efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan... and I think this has more to do with a misplacement of national priorities than an actual empathy for bin Laden.
Tony Messinger at 9:52AM on Sep 10th 2007
6. The decisions we make every day result in consequences that effect the future for generations to generations...Let's take it back to the Old Testament...As far back as Abraham and Sarah...God promised Sarah a son...She laughed, because she was old at the time...Sarah thought she would help God out, and present Abraham with a concubine to carry a son for him. The son the concubine had was named Ishmael...Ishmael is the Father of the Islams and the Muslims...Abraham and Sarah had the son that God promised. The promised son was Jacob,who is the Father of the Jews and Arabs! There you have the root to all of this controversy and war in the Middle East TODAY!!! Because of Abraham's decision to listen to his wife Sarah and sleep with the concubine,baring his son Ishmael, you have the war in effect today.The war between two brothers!! The promised seed are the Jews and Arabs, and WE AMERICA are allies of Israel! God says He will bless them who bless Israel, and curse them who curse Israel!! You better hope we stay allies with Israel for our own sake! Of what descendent is Osama Bin Laden? There you have it...a descendant of Ishmael...He is a muslim...so as you can see, the reason for all this fighting in the Middle East stretches as far back as Abraham in the Old Testament...and WE AMERICA are allies with the Jews! We are a gentile nation(America), who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who was a Jew himself!!...We are christians!!! and WE ARE an ally to Israel! I pray to God we will ALWAYS back up Israel!! Don't be blinded by politics...this is really what is going on over there...
Bridget at 10:14AM on Sep 10th 2007
7. Is this journalism?
Then tell us who complained?
Tell us why they complained?
Without that information this is a waste of our time.
CK at 10:20AM on Sep 10th 2007
8. Dinesh loves his country the way a child loves his mother. Mommy can do nothing wrong. Everything mommy does is good. Anyone who has a criticism of Mommy can't possibly love Mommy, and wants Mommy to fail.
The rest of us who have grown up understand that it's entirely possible to love your country and want your country to succeed while at the same time acknowledging that not everything your country does is good or right. Advocating change is not the same as disloyalty.
Dinesh should consider growing up. It requires a less simplistic view of things, but it's very rewarding.
SteveG at 10:30AM on Sep 10th 2007
9. Well the fact of the matter is that American leftists want to defeat Bush and his allies on the political right; indeed they fear Bush and crowd more than they fear any radical Mulim hordes that might be heading our way. They simply discount radical, violent Muslims as a cultural curiosity whom they arrogantly think they will ultimately be able to "enlighten". For the time being however, strategically, American leftists seem better able to tolerate radical Muslims like Bin Laden more than than they can stand Bush and the American Christian right.
Bin Laden on the other hand, while he no doubt thinks he and his crowd will "enlighten" (in thw rost sense of that word) all Americans, including and especially American leftists, as a strategic matter, correctly sees leftists as a convenient albeit temproary ally. In other words he probably understand he can use them to further his own ends.
That is where I agree with D'Souza that the traditional American Christian right should make the effort to better understand and ally itself with, traditional (i.e., non-radical) Mulsims.
Both traditional Christians and traditional Muslims deplore the actions of Bin Laden and crowd, and neither traditional Muslims nor traditional Christians agree with the strident atheistic secular humanistic cultural notions and otherwise low-brow morals that the American left constantly promotes in America and around the world.
Ken Berg at 10:59AM on Sep 10th 2007
10. Mayhaps the reason Bin Lauden so studiously mines the depths of "Liberal" thought...
Is that the vein of conservative "thought" is indeed so vapidly shallow.
DD' with this one, has firmly established himself as the Briteny Spears of the Reich.
Put some clothes on, girl!
BT at 11:30AM on Sep 10th 2007
11. Ken: The Left always wants to defeat the Right and the Right always wants to defeat the Left. That's just politics, and has always been true.
The difference is that the Right stands always ready, even eager, to accuse the Left of "hating America," "blaming America," "wanting America to lose," etc.
Aside from being ridiculously wrong, those types of attacks -- and D'Souza specializes in them -- are dangerous because they have the effecting of branding half the population as near-traitors. How are we supposed to be a United States if those on the Right -- the ones who fiercely claim their patriotism and piety even while acting in ways that contradict their words -- are busy trying to divide us right down the middle?
I think, for example, that you are dead wrong when you say the American Left fears Bush more than Muslim extremists. I think the Left is working to elect a Democratic president next time because the Left is *always* working to elect a Democratic president, and the Right is always working to elect a Republican president.
To say that the American Left is somehow sympathetic to the terrorists is to fall into that trap I mentioned earlier. Because the Left does not agree that Bush's blunt-force approach is the most effective way to fight the radicals, it is not a logical conclusion that therefore the Left does not want to fight the radicals. But that is what intellectual lightweights such as D'Souza would have you believe.
SteveG at 11:35AM on Sep 10th 2007
12.
@Bridget:
I am a moderate supporter of Bush's foreign policy (it has its flaws), but I want to make clear that it has nothing to do with Christianity, Israel or anything else relating to God.
Rather, I support him out of the philosophy of liberalism. It is my hope that Iraq will one day be a strong liberal democracy in the center of such a fundamentalist region, and that both economic and personal freedoms will spread throughout the Middle East.
It's kind of like in the 1980's with Gorbachev's reforms when trying to save Communism... but once the people had a little freedom, they wanted more... and Communism collapsed. I hope that our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan cause radical Islam to collapse.
Oh yeah, Israel is not a theocratic state under Yahweh... there are plenty of Muslim Israelis who are not aligned with the Palestinian cause, some of whom serve in the Israeli Knesset. There are also Isreali Druze, and Isreali Jews, some are religious, some identify with ethnic Judaism.
Do not be so blind as to think the USA Supports Israel for religious reasons. It has a lot more to do with liberalism and democracy.
Tony Messinger at 11:42AM on Sep 10th 2007
13. Dinesh, who are you really? As usual, you're out there offering your misdirected opinion(s) on issues you spin to perhaps bolster your own ego. I can recall several years ago when you spoke to a small group of U.S.ED Dept. civil rights staff (including myself) on the issue of blacks and discrimination. When I could no longer sit and listen to your "perspective", I politely asked you if you had experienced discrimination while attending Dartmouth. And guess what, you "skated" and refused to answer my question! Consequently, you had and, continue to have, absolutely no credibility with me. Man up!
Rusty Drake at 11:56AM on Sep 10th 2007
14. The reading lists of criminals are of little concern to me. As far as I'm concerned OBL can read whatever the prison librarian brings him, while awaiting sentencing.
This weekend the White House announced that OBL's capture was still their no. 1 priority. Uh, say again? Can we get a president who walks the walk, please?
mikey1 at 12:39PM on Sep 10th 2007
15. Dinesh D'Souza, how is it that the vast mojority of people always disagree with whatever you have to say. Could it be simply that you are a fool with soapbox? Someone really needs to pull the plug on you soon because your brand of stupidity is highly infectious. Did it ever occur to you that both Bin Laden and George Bush are evil men with money and power and an axe to grind with one another and all the rest of us are caught up in the crossfire? Both claim to be doing the work of his own personal version of god. I do not believe God speaks to either one of them, I think they manipulate religion for their own evil goals and greedy pursuits. Every time I read your articles you miss the mark by 2 miles. You have yet to make an intelligent observation. This is not my own opinion, I am relieved to see that most people consistently disagree with you. Rather than be angry at stupid people like yourself I will instead thank you for giving the people who disagree with you a forum for pointing out how flawed your thinking really is. There has been a complete turnaround in the way Americans are thinking about this war and our president. We do not back him anymore. The wool has been lifted from our eyes. Unfortunately you and those few like you will never rise above the lies. Mainly because you are such deceivers yourselves. It takes a grown man to admit he is wrong. You are the immature child who keeps heaping deception upon deception hoping against hope it will be accepted as fact.
So very wrong.
Steven at 12:45PM on Sep 10th 2007