OSAMA bin Laden is planning an attack against the United States that will “outdo by far” September 11, an Arab newspaper in London has reported.
And according to a former senior Yemeni al-Qaeda operative, the terrorist organisation has entered a “positive phase”, reinforcing specific training camps around the world that will lead the next “wave of action” against the West.
The warning, on the front page of an Arabic newspaper published in London, Al-Quds Al-Arabi – and widely reported in the major Italian papers – quotes a person described as being “very close to al-Qaeda” in Yemen.
Just a reminder that we need to obey Scripture and pray for all in authority.
The President is the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces. To protect the nation from “enemies foreign and domestic” is in the oath of office.
We need to lay aside a lot of the stupid partisan “gotcha” games and support stable leadership. Use the ballot box to remove those you oppose – stop using stupid media driven scandals (yeah, I mean Lewinsky) to distract and take down key leaders for partisan gain.
Yes, Bush 43 is massively unpopular. But give thanks that his administration blunted the enemy’s 9/11 momentum by preventing more attacks on US soil. Give thanks that his administration and Pres.-elect Obama’s team are already holding transition meetings on security issues.
And do what the Bible says and pray for those in authority. We have an unique opportunity to do this right now in the Prayers of the People, “For George our President and Barak our President-Elect”. And a great teaching opportunity if/when parishioners whine from either partisan extreme (God help them if they are under partisan whiner clergy).
Lewinsky scandal wasn’t about sex. It was about lying under oath. And as a simple, humble pastor … besides, I know I would instantly lose my job if it was discovered I was having an affair with an intern. So would any serving military officer. Probably most CEO’s too. Clinton got a pass.
That said, the vice-pres elect has already warned us Obama will be tested early in his administration. We may soon learn if the right man was elected.
Brian: pastors and CEOs aren’t responsible for national defense, any more than the President is responsible for the spirtual well being of your congregation (although it seems like we expect the Pres. to do something about crappy business leadership).
Anyway, I don’t want to reopen the whole Lewinsky distraction.
My point is that the President is invested (and the Scriptures say, “by God”) with authority to unleash deadly force it suppress greater evil. That is a massive responsibility and the trivial, partisan, “Entertainment Tonight” brand of politics we play does not help the President – or our security.
I think that conservatives are correct in arguing that the massive over-reach of the federal government into so many areas of life can only diminish its ability to provide for its most essential functions – and defense is the major responsibility.
My bad for inserting the Lewinsky illustration – this needs to be a thread about defense policy.
I would raise this issue: if we’d fought WWII the way we fight current wars, outcomes might have been very different. We fought total war to eliminate a fanatic enemy.
So, as we hear today of our enemy bombing a bus full of school girls in Iraq, why aren’t we wiping out a “Madrasah” (sp.) here and there? Why are we willing to consider “hate speech” laws to muzzle people in free societies while being to PC to attack schools for real hate and active terror in hostile places?
Yes, your bad for inserting the Lewinsky illustration and then assuming it can easily be pulled from the table as a mere distraction. Given the level of power and authority held by a sitting president, character is important. Clinton lacked character. And much of our current mess stems from those days.
As per bombing the Madrasah, I’d rather see selective SEAL action deal with the leaders. Who knows, maybe they are and we don’t know about it. But I suspect you already know that.
Does it seem odd that we hear this story a week AFTER the election? I am not sure it would have made any difference with those who are enamored with Obama, but it may have given the in-betweens something else to look at. I fear greatly that we will indeed be hit with another monstrous attack on our shores, if nothing else to see how the new guy will respond to it. He has already stated he will dismantle some of the things that have kept us safe the past eight years. Our sworn enemies care nothing about who they murder in these events, they have already proved that. God help us all. I pray for wisdom for our current president and the one to be so.
This ought to put to bed the meme we were attacked on 9/11 because of worldwide loathing of George Bush and his failure to push Kyoto.
I said it once, I’ll say it again: elections have consequences.
[blockquote]Jeffersonian [6], who EVER said that? Is it really that widespread of a meme? Or is it just a straw-man? [/blockquote]
No straw man. I think the meme was launched by AQ #2 man Ayman al-Zawahiri, but it was quickly picked up by a lot of left-of-center blogs and other outlets. It was one of the supposed causes.
#10 – I misspoke…it wasn’t about Kyoto in particular, but global warming in general that Zawahiri referred to:
[blockquote]Al-Zawahiri spoke on a wide range of issues, even global warming — which he said reflected “how criminal, brutal and greedy the Western Crusader world is, with America at the top.”
He predicted that global warming would “would make the world more sympathetic to and understanding of the Muslims’ jihad (holy war) against the aggressor America.”[/blockquote]
Like I said, it’s one of their issues they’ve picked up over the years, so it might not be a retroactive excuse for 9/11…that one focused mostly on Iraq.
Oops…forgot the [url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352066,00.html]LINK[/url]
As one who did not vote Obama, I pray everyday now for insight and strong leadership in the President-elect. The election is over. I’m disappointed and I know many others are too, but the peaceful transfer of power between administrations of opposing political ideals ad beliefs is the hallmark of American democracy.
Let’s pray that the new administration can continue to keep us free from terrorist attacks on our soil.
#14 – Will our president-elect have enough patriotism to want to defend our country? He received his early in an extremist islamic medrassa. How has that shaped his loyalties? Would he want to defend our country from islamic extremists… or china?
Many liberal extremists (like his friends Ayers and Dohrn) do not have patriotic feelings about America – in fact, quite the opposite…their formative years were spent planning bombings and burning flags.
Will the US military trust and follow Obama in a test of our national security?
[i] This comment verges on ad hominem. Please consider this as a warning suggesting more restraint. [/i]
-Elf Lady
I wonder who will blame Obama for attacks on American soil? Bring the big man into a fight. It’s better for gaining recruits to the cause.
Osama knows that the image of Obama challenges the notion that the USA is the great Satan. So he will of course try to provoke him.
oops, that’s, ‘received his early *education* in a medrassa’….
15# I spent much time before the election going over Obama’s ties to Ayers, Alinksy and ACORN to anyone that would listen. I went out and cast my vote. But the election is now over and Obama won.
I’ll leave actual Obama supporters to defend his (lack of) islamic ties. The fact of the matter is that whether or not you feel he is up to the task, you need to pray that he is. He is soon to be our President and we have to pray that he does all that he can to protect America. Are we so far gone that we can’t even pray for our leaders if they don’t come from our political party? That’s pretty sad.
I apologize if I am mistaken, it is not dishonorable to be mistaken.
That is what I read and have not seen another story refuting that.
I will check out your information.
OK – checked it out – so the story was false.
[i] Remainder of comment is off topic. [/i]
-Elf Lady
[i] Off topic comment deleted. [/i]
#15 – I hope the military does trust him. If they didn’t, it would be a coup.
Again, if you want to understand Obama, study Harold Washington. Kendall has linked to it before. Don’t trust me. Trust the author of this blog.
[i] Slightly edited by elf. [/i]
[i] Off topic comment deleted. This thread is about a bin Laden attack. [/i]
Matt Thomson, your comment misses the point – on purpose. You know very well that it is not grandparenting skills, but purposeful idealogical indoctrination that Daniel was talking about.
John Wilkins #16, you could start with Joe Biden, who’s already warned us Obama’s inexperience will likely cause an attack. It takes only a cursory knowledge of history to know he was probably right, perhaps for the first time in his career.
Me too, Matt #26 – continuing your list – Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Rashid Khalidi, Jeremiah Wright, Fr. Pfleger, ad nauseum.
In 16:
[blockquote]Osama knows that the image of Obama challenges the notion that the USA is the great Satan. [/blockquote]
John, I really don’t think Osama bin Laden thinks in the categories implicit in your comment, i.e. the whole racial injustice narrative with civil rights eschaton, whether to accept it as valid or reject it as invalid. It is more likely he views Obama as either:
a. A Muslim apostate who is thereby worthy of death
b. A Christian apostate who is thereby worthy of contempt
c. A Marxist who will therefore inevitably fall before God’s will, or
d. An icon of the Great Satan’s decadent materialist culture.
Or perhaps some weird combination of these.
If bin Laden actually is alive and not incapacitated or held against his will it is reasonable to expect he will make an overture of mercy before resolving to destroy Obama/us, consistent with his prior actions. I expect there is the usual chance these overtures will be misunderstood as an offer to talk in good faith instead of a proposal for dhimmitude.
On the otherhand, I expect the odds are about equal that we never hear from him again.
Like all Anglicans using some form of Prayer Book worship, I pray regularly for the leaders of our country, and this now includes Obama. My prayers for him are sincere. I have misgivings about him, of course, but we need to react to what he does and not what we think he may do. That was for before the election. For the good of the country, I hope my ideas of what he will do were wrong.
I’m glad to see the “madrasa” issue already dealt with. I have an agnostic Muslim friend who is upset about the use of the word for “extremist Islamic school.” In Arabic, “madrasa” means simply “school.” Children here in Egypt may go to the British madrasa or the American madrasa or the German madrasa, or to fundamentalist Islamic madrasas as well. It just means “school,” and its type comes in additional adjectives.
Anecdotal evidence and surveys indicate that American military personnel don’t trust Obama. However, they will not refuse lawful orders from him, of course. They do their duty and they do it well.
As a early teen in 1980, I heard my teenage freinds talking about how Ronald Reagan was the Anti -Christ, and how things were going get really bad. In 1980, I thought that my young friends were ill- informed (nuts), and they were. When I here the fear engendered knowledge spewed about this election, I think the same thing. I am a Traditional Anglican and a critical realist. Reading the comments here, reminds me how close we humains remain to the spirit of fear that spawns inquistions, pogroms and witch trials. Thank God for the Enlightenment. There is nothing more dangerous than ignorance hid under the mantle of religion. In sum, Barack Obama is nothing more and nothing less than a very competent American politician. My teenage friends from the 80’s learned that lesson the last time the nation elected “a dangerous person”.
RIP President Reagan
Marion, you may be right about Osama’s thinking of Obama. Osama probably thinks of Obama the way some here do: a marxist Apostate representing Western decadence.
But unfortunately this creates a divide between him and his potential recruits. For most of the Muslim world, someone with his name is intrinsically interesting. As a marketing tool, Obama is excellent for the west to diminish the hatred that many Musliims have toward America. He’s Osama’s counter icon, and Osama knows it.
John,
I believe that bin Laden thinks differently from many of those who coordinate al Qaeda cells, who in turn think differently from many whom they get through one method or another to implement their plans. Nevertheless, I suspect that hardly any of them think in terms of the Newsweekish Coke vs. Pepsi mindset suggested in the postings above. And when I say they don’t think in those terms I do not mean they disagree with or reject the terms. I mean the [i]mindset is entirely alien to them[/i].
Hi Marion, I’m not sure. Muslims get the internet. They drink soda. Why wouldn’t they think in binary terms.
Islam is going through a revolution we aren’t even noticing because we always think its about us. No – its about the impact of modernism and technology in the middle east. We are convenient enemies for those who want to paper over the vast differences between muslims. Bush was remarkably good at distracting Muslims from all their own internal squabbles. We were a very easy an convenient enemy.
Again, the worst thing for Osama, is Obama. A young, skeptical muslim who is tired of fundamentalist religion and just wants a little freedom rather than death, is going to look to America rather than Afghanistan. Especially since we’ve demonstrated someone named Hussein Obama can win the election in a free country.
I have said this before. I have lived in the Middle East 12 years. Americans have no clue how dedicated and fanatical these guys are. They look at their death as glorious. They are lining up for this. They ae fighting over who gets to do it. Islamic fundametalism is on auto-pilot. No head. No leader. They don’t even need Osama. There will definitely be an attack in the very near future after Jan 20. If they say it will be bigger than 9/11, I can only imagine . . ..