Today we will get a chance to hear from the commander of our troops in Iraq, General David Petraeus. I look forward to hearing what he has to say. He is a reasonable man and it will be worth studying his arguments.
Osama bin Laden has also spoken . . . again.
As a Christian, as a philosopher, and as an American it is difficult to relate to someone so twisted and evil. It is too easy to dismiss what he says with mockery. Sadly millions all over the world pay attention to his words.
Why? There are those who need hope in a fallen world and if this hope is not provided by the sane and the just, then they will be tempted by the lies of the deceiver who hopes to profit on their misery.
It is always difficult to know and do the will of God in the evil times before He makes all things new.
Many in their despair at the evils done in this age will hope for an easier way than God has provided. Self-appointed men will attempt (were it possible) to make their voice God’s voice (God have mercy!), becoming little gods in their minds and idols to these despairing masses, and they can be seductive.
Idols always claim shortcuts to the Vision of God which is the true end of mankind.
Intellectual indolence in the face of this evil is convenient, but enables wickedness to flourish. Hitler’s mad rants were ignored by too many Christian academics and became the blueprint for horror.
Tonight some of my students are defending my nation against this man. If he is mad, then it is a madness that has infected many people all over the world.
What follows are my reflections on the latest statement from one of our chief foes in the War. I am no expert in Islam, just a teacher who has read what he can and a Christian from a Church whose patriarchate has been under Islamic rule for centuries.
I am working from a transcript from here.
I certainly do not believe Osama represents mainstream Islam and my comments are directed towards his views and not to that faith.
The transcript will appear in block-quote format.
All praise is due to Allah, who built the heavens and earth in justice, and created man as a favor and grace from Him. And from His ways is that the days rotate between the people, and from His Law is retaliation in kind: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and the killer is killed. And all praise is due to Allah, who awakened His slaves’ desire for the Garden, and all of them will enter it except those who refuse. And whoever obeys Him alone in all of his affairs will enter the Garden, and whoever disobeys Him will have refused.
Too often commentators (especially secular ones) skip this part of the message. They view it as boiler plate “religious stuff” and hurry to the “important” parts. In the case of Osama the key stuff is in the first paragraph.
Osama imagines the War as the West against Islam, but that is not the case. The values of the West and of Christendom (not the same thing at all!) are opposed to the terror lord, but so are the values of millions of Moslems including most of the Turks, the Jordanians, and the people of Kuwait.
There are brave Islamic Iraqi soldiers fighting for their country today against the terror mastermind. They understand that bin Laden does not just misunderstand Christianity, he misunderstands what is best for modern Islam.
The most serious problem with his reasoning is that bin Laden confuses his every thought with the will of God.
Osama writes as if he has authority, but other than the cult of his personality he has none. Osama speaks as if he represents an institution, but he is the leader of no state and of no people. He has no title recognized by any historic entity. He is an isolated man with his sorry followers defying authority and the way the world is as if he, and not the Almighty, were the lord of history.
As a result, Osama constantly conflates the role of the individual with the role of the state. It isn’t just that his political thinking is not very sophisticated, but that he must do this in order to justify his actions. Osama represents nothing and nobody except himself and those souls he deludes so he must act as if the power of the state to defend itself is his.
He is an individual pretending to state power.
What is appropriate for a state is not appropriate for the individual. The ability of the state to levy taxes, which would be called stealing if done by the individual, is one example. Osama appropriates to himself the power of executing “justice,” but his limited and warped views justify hundreds of years of careful political development by believers removing the execution of justice from the power of the individual to the realm of the state.
Vengeance is the Lord’s and the sword belongs to the state not to charismatic madmen. Osama would do well to read that man of the Book, John Locke, and learn humility in the face of government and God.
Those soldiers who are Christian also fight with the words of Jesus in mind for their conduct as individuals:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
They are not at war to execute personal revenge. That is forbidden to them.
They are Christians, but do not fight as individuals, but instead with their fellow citizens of other faiths, including Islam, they act as ministers of God’s justice. The fight as ministers of the state not as an arm of the Church.
This is not a new or “secular” idea for in the Holy Bible Saint Paul could say of the pagan troops of Emperor Nero:
“For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, or he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.”
Soldiers are men under authority. Terrorists are men vainly attempting to take the will of God into their own proud hands.
Terrorists would bring on the Eschaton at their timing in their folly and pride and so control the Will of the Almighty, but they only bring just condemnation on their own heads.
Osama continues:
As for what comes after: Peace be upon he who follows the Guidance. People of America: I shall be speaking to you on important topics which concern you, so lend me your ears. I begin by discussing the war which is between us and some of its repercussions for us and you.
To preface, I say: despite America being the greatest economic power and possessing the most powerful and up-to-date military arsenal as well; and despite it spending on this war and is army more than the entire world spends on its armies; and despite it being the being the major state influencing the policies of the world, as if it has a monopoly on the unjust right of veto; despite all of this, 19 young men were able - by the grace of Allah, the Most High- to change the direction of its compass. And in fact, the subject of the Mujahideen has become an inseparable part of the speech of your leader, and the effects and signs of that are not hidden.
One would feel sad for the bunker delusions of Osama if they were not still so dangerous and did not twist the minds of many.
It is true that when a society is prosperous, free, and at peace that it takes little to disrupt it. It takes very little to carp, criticize, and destroy. Any fool can damage the David, but only Michelangelo can create.
It is the work of the one God to create and of Satan to destroy. Does this mean that Satan is powerful?
Of course not, it only means that twisting and perverting good creation is the work of little minds.
While the terrorists murder people and destroy civilization, the Coalition forces in places like Iraq are trying to build a better one while defending civilized values. Which is easier? Which is more like the work of the Creator God?
God blessed America with the imagination to produce airlines and the prosperity to allow even lower class people to fly. Americans produced a society that allows freedom of religion to all people of faith and even of no faith. Communication here is easy and cheap.
It take little imagination or power to disrupt and create chaos in a God-blessed land, because there are so many targets to destroy.
On the other hand, where the ideology of Osama (not Islam, but his twisted version of it) has become dominant, there is little to destroy. It is hard to harm a society that is reverted to a primitive condition. That is a sign of weakness and not strength.
As to the rest of his argument, the military might of the Coalition, including the thousands of Islamic soldiers in it, face a difficult job, but they defend nations that are economically growing, are mostly at peace, and that Osama can touch only sporadically.
Osama continues:
Since the 11th, many of America’s policies have come under the influence of the Mujahideen, and that is by the grace of Allah, the Most High. And as a result, the people discovered the truth about it, its reputation worsened, its prestige was broken globally and it was bled dry economically, even if our interests overlap with the interests of the major corporations and also with those of the neoconservatives, despite the differing intentions.
This prose is very unclear.
If he means that we reacted (as states must) to his terrorism, then he is correct. The state (not individuals) must do justice to protect their citizens. A purpose of government on earth is to punish wickedness and vice. However, the bank robber would be deluded to think the power of the state as being controlled by his crimes.
As to the United States in the War, Americans would not trade positions with Osama. The US is prosperous. Yesterday millions welcomed the start of the American football season. Millions more also attended church in peace and freedom. Over the weekend millions attended mosques and synagogues to worship God. All of this came in a nation whose chief problem in relation to food is obesity and not starvation. We are not perfect by any means, prosperity brings its own temptations to pride, but we are strong.
If we choose to do so politically, we can continue this War indefinitely. Our economy has grown over its duration.
Osama has not prospered nor have those who sided with him. Instead, as will happen to one who thinks he knows the mind of God, he has become deluded and isolated in the world.
He represents no state. His allies are on the run everywhere. Only by lies can he get support and his followers have not won a single pitched battle with his foes.
They are good at killing women and children or soldiers from a distance, but his followers run or die when facing Coalition forces. The brave Iraqi soldiers show that this is not a reflection of the courage of the people of the region. Instead, it is sign of the effect of Osama’s ideology on those who would defy the just rules of war and of honor as accepted by all the great monotheistic traditions of the world.
Osama fights like a terrorist and not like the noble Saladin.
Osama continues:
And for your information media, during the first years of the war, lost its credibility and manifested itself as a tool of the colonialist empires, and its condition has often been worse than the condition of the media of the dictatorial regimes which march in the caravan of the single leader.
Then Bush talks about his working with al-Maliki and his government to spread freedom in Iraq but he in fact is working with the leaders of one sect against another sect, in the belief that this will quickly decide the war in his favor.
And thus, what is called the civil war came into being and matters worsened at his hands before getting out of his control and him becoming like the one who plows and sows the sea: he harvests nothing but failure.
As to our media, Osama must be discouraged indeed.
There is no single “information media” in a free land . . . a fact that has escaped a mind not used to liberty.
What media? Does he mean the growing New Media where every range of opinion can be found? Does he mean the mainstream media which though less diverse ranges from the more conservative Fox to the less supportive National Public Radio? Osama should note that one of the media centers least supportive of the White House receives direct government subsidy!
The War in Iraq is difficult, but it is the Coalition that supports an armed force that contains all the sects in Iraq. It is the Iraqi government, elected by Iraqi people, that has the best chance of uniting that country. And who does Osama represent? He is elected by nobody, is the heir of no ancient Islamic office, and has taken his will to be the will of God. His version of Islam is a newcomer to the world and an extreme version of it.
Osama is no friend of global Islam. He despises the proud and noble Turkish nation and its modern state. He loathes the Islam of most Egyptians and of the Persian people. He sows only discord amongst brothers, amongst people of the Book, and has no plan and no viable alternative.
He is not a leader of a government, because he has no capacity to govern. Where ideas similar to his have been given a chance (in pockets of Iraq), the people have united to throw out the thugs who have made a popular idol of a man who confuses his will with the Will of God.
