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Bin Laden's Latest Tape

(National Review) Clifford D. May - •All the Jihadist groups - bin Ladenists, Wahhabis, Baathists, Khomeinists, Arafatists - are united by at least four shared goals:1. Expanding the realm of Islamic rule, in particular throwing Christians, Jews, and other "infidels" out of the Middle East and any other land ever ruled by Muslims; 2. Promoting the belief within the Muslim world that Islam is in a state of permanent conflict with other religions - and that this conflict can only be resolved by Islam's unambiguous victory; 3. Insisting that all Muslims have a religious duty to wage Jihad to vanquish Islam's enemies; 4. Persuading Muslims to oppose democracy, religious freedom, the rule of law, and other Free World values. •For a long time, many Middle East analysts have argued that doctrinal differences would prevent religious extremists like bin Laden from making common cause with ostensibly secular Muslims like Saddam Hussein. How, from a doctrinal standpoint, can bin Laden justify such alliances? •Michael Scott Doran, a Near Eastern studies scholar at Princeton, recently wrote that bin Laden has been promoting the idea that, "People of Islam should join forces and support each other to get rid of the main infidel" - even if that means that true believers will be forced to fight alongside Muslims of dubious piety.
2003-02-13 00:00:00
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