Bin Laden blew up the WTC with planes, killing over 3000 people, most of whom had no idea who in the hell he was. To explain his actions to the American public, he wrote an open letter to America.
The full text can be found here, and it is an interesting read for any libertarian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver
I’m going to be posting sections and critiques of those sections.
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]
In case you weren’t aware, Bin Laden is very religious. I’m an atheist with some hellenistic and taoist sympathies, so there might be a language barrier at times. 😛
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.
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?
So basically, in this letter he’s explaining why he conducted the attack on America, and what his demands are. Note that to him, “Truth” is based in Islamic law. This is a recurring theme in this letter.
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.
a) You attacked us in Palestine:
(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. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its*price, and pay for it heavily.
First reason on the list that he cites is the Palestinian occupation, and America’s role in establishing and protecting Israel and allowing the totalitarian oppression of Palestinians. For the most part, he’s right about the facts, here. I obviously disagree with the last sentence, which we will get to later when I explain the fundamental flaw with his logic, but overall the paragraph speaks the truth on how the British handed over Palestine, with US support, to the state of Israel who has occupied it for 50 years (at the time, 2002).
(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. 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.
There are a lot of true statements in here, let’s point them out individually
- Jews do not have a historical right to Palestine, as promised to them in the Torah
Obviously, a religious text isn’t the basis for a property ownership; divine right monarchy is kind of a thing of the past. Therefore, his statement here is true
- Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism.
You will definitely be accused of being an anti-Semite for speaking critically against Israel, that’s a fact. Now, to be fair, not everyone who is more-or-less “pro-Israel” does this, but it is an extremely common occurrence.
- The people of Palestine are the original Semites, and are the inheritors of Moses
Two things here, for one, yes, genetic evidence does indicate that modern Palestinians are, in fact, mostly semites. As depressing as this is for it’s implications (that modern Jews and the Palestinians are literally the same people, fighting their relatives, who share common family several generations back), and also that they are the “Inheritors of Moses”. I do not know if he means this in the sense that the sovereignty of the land comes from Moses, but I suspect he’s just trying to point out that the prophet of the Jews, Moses, is a prophet to him, as well. This brings me to my next point,
- He’s pointing out that he holds the Torah to be holy, assuming it’s “unchanged”
By this I’m pretty sure he’s accusing modern Jews of modifying the torah from the version used in the Quran. If anyone knows more about theology than me and wants to comment, be my guest.
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.
I think the point he’s making here is that since God or whoever gave the land of Palestine to the Israelites before the time of Jesus, that means that the religious claim to the land also belongs to Christians and Muslims or followers of “all the Prophets”. I doubt this point has much to do with whether he actually thought that Muslims deserved the land more than Jews because God, I think he’s just trying to debunk the claim that Jews have a divine right to the land.
I don’t believe in any of this whacko nonsense, as I said, atheist with hellenistic sympathies, God doesn’t confer property titles, to the Jews or otherwise.
(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 of the same
(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.
This has to do with the US involvement in the Somalian Civil War, which though I am not a historical expert in, I’m sure others in this sub are, because Somalia has a special place in the hearts of ancaps. Suffice to say, yes, the US did get involved in Somalia, and Chechnya, and Kashmir, and Lebanon. Bin Laden seems to have taken that quite personally.
(c) Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis;
This is a reference to how the US likes to regime change people in the Middle East, then replace them with friendly puppets. The US did this during the 90s, and continued to do so to this day. I believe Bin Laden is particularly referring to the crap the US pulled in Iran, though.
(i) These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so.
OK so we’re starting to get to the interesting parts. Bin Laden believes in natural law, in a sense, but in a different sort of natural law than libertarians believe in. Shariah is the legal system of choice for him, and the rules come from Allah. This contrasts with libertarians, our natural law comes from a variety of places, most notably the doctrine of self-ownership. Some libertarians do derive our natural law from their personal faith, but this isn’t the “standard” form of libertarianism, so to speak. Not that they aren’t welcome, because frankly I don’t care how you come to the conclusion that initiating violence is bad so long as you do.
(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.
(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.
When I first read this I had to look up what “Ummah” meant; it largely refers to their “nation”. Not in the government sense, like “national debt”, but in the old-fashioned “nation” sense where groups of people form a “nation” based on shared culture and ethnic traits. Collectivist nonsense, really, in my opinion, but a lot of people take that sort of thing very seriously…
Also, he again returns to the point of American support for Israel in the oppression and occupation of the Palestinians. Even though he mentions lots of things that the US did that pissed him off, Somalia and Chechnya etc., he seems to not care about those as much as this one particular thing he finds especially egregious.
Also, he thinks that the going rate of oil is too low. If he were around today, I’d tell him a thing or two about supply and demand but I don’t expect that Bin Laden is an economics genius (understanding economics is rare among jihadi head-choppers or political terrorists, in general).
(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.
This is an important point, from Bin Laden’s point of view, since the despotic regimes across the middle-east were put in place with the assistance of the US government, their fight against these governments is basically the same fight as their fight against the US itself.
By the US government embroiling themselves in the business of countries who are literally on the opposite side of the world, the US successfully managed to put itself into the middle of near-east tribal politics. I think someone has quoted me once as saying something along the lines of, “Never get involved in middle-east politics”, but I wasn’t around when the CIA was trying to annoy the Soviets by arming Hezbollah so I was not able to provide this information to them.
(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 would point out that the price negotiated by the seller and the buyer is no business of his as he is a third party, and that a mutually-agreeable deal is not theft.
(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.
This is mostly true, see previous statement in regards to the final point about treasure pillaging.
(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.
This is a comment on Clinton’s Iraq policy of sanctions. Ron Paul said it best when he said “Sanctions are an act of war”. I don’t know if the 1.5 million number is correct, specifically when referring to Iraqi children, however the true number is really high, and as good libertarians we always oppose sanctions, regardless of how much we hate Sadaam.
(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.
Considering that Al-Aqsa is still around, if there were plans from Israelis to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque, they either did not execute this plan or failed to accomplish this mission. If there were no plans, then he’s full of shit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
According to the internet, Al-Aqsa is the third most holy site in Islam.
(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?!!
To answer his rhetorical question, I do not think it is rational to expect that people in the middle east wouldn’t bother attacking the US if the US has attacked people in the middle east for more than half a century. That being said, I don’t think it’s wise for them to attack the US, but at the same time I don’t think it’s wise for the US to be involved over there, either. The cycle of violence needs to be stopped somewhere, and as an American, I suggest that America stop dicking around in the middle-east.
(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.
This really gets my goat, because this dude spends the rest of his letter pointing out the hypocrisy of the United States after he is being a massive hypocrite here. His basic argument is that since the USA has a democratic representative democracy, that every person in the US is responsible for the decisions of the lizard-people that work at the CIA.
He puts such an emphasis on how Shariah law is legitimate, and the natural law of the world, and all that jazz, but then when he wants to kill a couple thousand people, suddenly representative democracy is legitimately the will of the people?
This is about on par with the anti-voting libertarians who say that if you ever vote, you somehow consent to the entire government system. It doesn’t make any sense, but here he’s doing it out of convenience to make it seem justifiable to murder innocent people.
What really drives me nuts about this is that people in this subreddit have made similar arguments, such as since the Palestinians voted for Hamas, they are responsible for any rockets Hamas fires, and therefore Israel is okay to kill them in self defense. There is something really sick about the brain of any person who would consider this logically sound, it’s a special sort of special pleading
(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.
From a libertarian standpoint, this is quasi-correct
The American people do pay the taxes which fund the planes that drop the bombs, and the tanks and the ships and all that jazz. It’s true that American tax dollars do go to Israel and Israel does use them to continue their conquests.
But, this is a big deal:
TAXATION IS THEFT.
The typical American doesn’t have a choice in the matter, they either pay up or
(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.
In case you didn’t figure it out yet, Bin Laden is big into collectivism. That’s why he describes things in terms of the Ummah, the Islamic Nation, and why he refers to Jews in the collective sense, and Americans in the collective sense. His logic really breaks down whenever it’s confronted with individualism, and his logic only pans out if you assume collectivist concepts from the get-go.
(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.
This is nonsense, you don’t get to kill unrelated third parties if you are attacked. Israel doesn’t get to kill 256 innocent people just because 12 of “theirs” were murdered, and Bin Laden doesn’t get to kill 3000 innocent people just because some number of “his” were murdered.
The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:
Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?
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.
He’s correct to a point, if somehow Sharon is considered “A man of peace”, then the standards for “A man of peace” are so low that Bin Laden is also “A man of peace”. That being said, Sharon isn’t a man of peace, so that means Bin Laden also isn’t a man of peace.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(2) The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.
not exactly a good time to ask people to join your religion, Bin Laden…
(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.
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.
self-explanatory “I don’t like you” sort of thing…
(b) It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind:
(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?
This is actually interesting again. He’s saying that Americans don’t respect natural law as he sees it, but think that what is right and what is wrong is up to a popularity contest, essentially. Again, from his point of view, Natural Law comes from God. Many religious libertarians agree with him on this, though they may disagree on what the natural law is. So, for those who are religious, what do you think about this paragraph? Do you think that democracy is an affront to God’s natural law? Do you think democratic government denies us the ability to know the natural law?
(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.
To be fair, the US seems to be reducing interest rates to zero lately, so perhaps this is, in a sense, appeasing his demands. I don’t think Benjamin Franklin warned against interest, unless I’m missing something, but researching that claim led me to this interesting story:
Apparently, back in the day, Ben Franklin gave Boston and Philladelphia 5000 bucks to invest, and they did, and it turned out to be worth quite a bit o’ cash 200 years down the line. Fun fact.
(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.
I think by “Intoxicants” he means booze, and by “drugs” he means things like heroin and cocaine. Al Qaeda makes a ton of money off heroin sales, so I wonder if he is aware of this hypocrisy on his part….
(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.
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?
I think he means incest in a non-literal sense, because the US doesn’t really practice that much, but in regards to Clinton’s BJ, this is an interesting dichotomy between the Libertarian natural-rights crowd and the Islamo-fascist natural-rights crowd. Most libertarians see the president getting a blowjob and say, “omg who cares let’s focus on real news please”, but Bin Laden appears to have very different priorities.
(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.
well, not all it’s forms…
(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.
I think this is an interesting way to look at womens’ rights, and as an aside I think modern SJWs are adopting policies very similar to him on this, where “Sexiness” is bad and women should be covered up. I think libertarians have the best idea here, we don’t really spend time worrying about what women should, or shouldn’t, wear, and recognize that it’s up to them. Mind your own business.
(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.
So we have established that Bin Laden is a prude, and that he blames the US for AIDS somehow. I am aware of theories that the CIA invented AIDS but I am not in a position to comment on their veracity other than to say I doubt it, based solely on a hunch. I also am not sure if he is referring to this or if he means something else.
(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.
(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.
Good reminder that environmentalism and communism go hand in hand with anti-semitism.
(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?
This is correct, Japan was pushing for a conditional surrender, but the US dropped a second nuke on them to make it an unconditional surrender. This is barbaric and backwards, and totally out-of-line with American values. Whether this was the worst thing in history? That’s much more debatable, but assuming he’s being hyperbolic this is correct.
(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.
says the guy who argues in favor of natural law, until you need to justify the murder of civilians, then suddenly switches to government being legitimized to being of the consent of the governed.
(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’!!!
This is true to an extent, the US does this a lot. The US will do nation-building over in third-world countries, then nullify the election if they vote for people the US doesn’t like. The racial aspect is much more debatable and I hate arguing race.
(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.
This is true, the US does this.
(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.
This is true, the US does this.
(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.
I am unaware of the specific incident he is referring to and cannot vouch for, or against, the veracity. Public comment welcome.
(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?”
(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.
I don’t think we need to really go into details as everyone here should know that the US has a terrible human rights record, especially in regards to Gitmo, but the last sentence quoted here refers to the value of the US signature on an agreement or treaty
Low, that’s the value of an American signature.
One problem with the US system is that the president can do some wheelin’ and dealin’, and then 4 years later the next president just up and reneges on those deals like it ain’t no thing. Clinton made a deal with Russia not to put any of the former Warsaw-pact countries east of Poland into NATO, and Bush reneged on that. Obama made the Iran nuclear deal, Trump immediately reneged on that, Trump made a deal somehow with North Korea, I wouldn’t be surprised if Biden reneges on that.
The US has ADD in regards to it’s foreign agreements, and any deal made by any president is pretty much up for review by default in 4 years once the next administration comes in.
Also, I think that it is mostly correct to say the US demands values from others but doesn’t hold itself to them whatsoever. “American Exceptionalism” and all that jazz… we bitch and complain and point fingers if the Soviets have the Gestapo break into peoples’ houses in the middle of the night to disappear people, but American SWAT does it and “meh”.
(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.
(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.
(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.
I agree with all three of these points, except I protest that he thinks it’s okay for them to do more NY and Washington, they should not do more of that.
(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.
Again, he’s pointing out he hates our support of Israel, but hasn’t ruled out the possibility of peace.
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]
The Nation of honour and respect:
“But honour, power and glory belong to Allah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad- peace be upon him) and to the believers.” [Quran 63:8]
“So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be*superior ( in victory )if you are indeed (true) believers” [Quran 3:139]
The Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life:
“Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive with their Lord, and they are being provided for. They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them from His bounty and rejoice for the sake of those who have not yet joined them, but are left behind (not yet martyred) that on them no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in a grace and a bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers.” [Quran 3:169-171]
The Nation of victory and success that Allah has promised:
“It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists hate it.” [Quran 61:9]
“Allah has decreed that ‘Verily it is I and My Messengers who shall be victorious.’ Verily Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty.” [Quran 58:21]
The Islamic Nation that was able to dismiss and destroy the previous evil Empires like yourself; the Nation that rejects your attacks, wishes to remove your evils, and is prepared to fight you. You are well aware that the Islamic Nation, from the very core of its soul, despises your haughtiness and arrogance.
If the Americans refuse to listen to our advice and the goodness, guidance and righteousness that we call them to, then be aware that you will lose this Crusade Bush began, just like the other previous Crusades in which you were humiliated by the hands of the Mujahideen, fleeing to your home in great silence and disgrace. If the Americans do not respond, then their fate will be that of the Soviets who fled from Afghanistan to deal with their military defeat, political breakup, ideological downfall, and economic bankruptcy.
This is our message to the Americans, as an answer to theirs. Do they now know why we fight them and over which form of ignorance, by the permission of Allah, we shall be victorious?
This could all be summed up as, “Or else…”, typical chest-beating you expect from this sort of thing.
So, what are the major take-aways?
1: The 9/11 terrorist attacks are blowback for American involvement in Israel, for those who don’t know what blowback is, see this Ron Paul video:
Lots of people in this sub love this debate, and many people attribute their conversion to libertarianism solely on Ron Paul, or this debate answer specifically. They talk about how brave Ron Paul was for bringing this up, but might not have known what, specifically, it was blowback for. Bin Laden lays it out pretty clearly, and even though he’s obviously a deranged psychopath with an axe to grind, he’d probably just be your usual run-of-the-mill dickhead instead of successfully killing thousands of Americans in the US Homeland if the US didn’t support Israel and fiddle with the affairs of foreign countries.
2: The post-9/11 world we live in, from the people that check your butthole at the airport, to the DHS setting up “constitution free” zones around the border, to the 8 or so wars, to the Biden administration cracking down on “Domestic extremism”, to the NSA wiretapping, to the militarization of police, all the federal over-reach in the name of “fighting terror”, the strengthening of the passport system, all of this is largely caused by American support for Israel.
A lot of people have no idea why I’m on an Israel stint lately, and no idea why I’d care about a tiny little country on the other side of the world. To them, that’s “Over there” problems, and they’re worried about “Over here” problems. They might not realize that the reason we have so many of these “Over here” problems is because of things our government does “Over there”.
3: If we want freedom in the US, we need to take up the banner of attacking American support for Israel, and take up the banner of ending US involvement in overseas affairs. We are not the world police, and if we are then we’re terrible at it. Middle-eastern politics are complicated and the US doesn’t bother learning the language first, they just speak English, louder, while pointing.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. To those of you who bothered to read the whole thing, thank you, I sincerely appreciate it. To those who are going to comment below refuting something I didn’t say, and didn’t bother reading any of it, no u. To anyone got halfway through, got pissed off, and then decided to stop reading the rest, your nose is ugly and your feet smell. To everyone else, have a nice day and remember, killing people is bad. Don’t do it.