Sunday, the United States began its attack on terrorism. As bombs and missiles rained down on Afghanistan, terrorist leader Osama bin Laden addressed the Afghanistan people through a television broadcast. In this speech, bin Laden praised God for the events of Sept. 11 saying that “God has sent one of the attacks by God, and has attacked one of its best buildings.” Bin Laden has declared a holy war on the United States of America. In his statement, he said that civilians and innocent children are killed every day in Iraq without any guilt, Israeli tanks go through “lands of Islam” and no one objects to those things. Bin Laden believes that the United States “supported murder against the victim, and God has given them back what they deserve.” This is not true. The United States and the United Nations have given humanitarian aid to these people for several years now.
In this broadcast, bin Laden calls Muslims to arms. He said that the United States has come to fight Islam in the name of terrorism. Islam is not what the United States is fighting. Americans are in the Middle East fighting for the salvation of peace, security and freedom within the borders of our country. Islam is a peaceable religion, and many American citizens are Islamic; many students at Mississippi State are Islamic. Our country was built on religious diversity.
Let me repeat, Islam is not the target. The target is the network that created the plan to crash airplanes full of civilians into two landmarks of our nation.
Bin Laden is concerned with the loss of civilian lives in his country, yet this jihad, this holy war, has taken the lives of over 5,000 American civilians. Bin Laden stated that the “the swords came back after 8 years to America…God has given them back what they deserve.” The sword of God did not come back on the American people, the sword of Osama bin Laden came back on the American people. Bin Laden said that God has instructed “a bunch of Muslims to be at the forefront when America is destroyed.” Bin Laden is playing out God’s will, but it may be wise to leave God’s will to God himself.
Islam is a peaceful religion, and bin Laden’s form of Islam is perverted. Bin Laden took Islam and made it into an excuse. This excuse allowed him to take the position of God, and this position mandates his forces to destroy America.
Bin Laden hates everything that the United States stands for. He has blamed all the war and destruction of the Middle East on the United States. Terrorism operates on the basis of fear and confusion. Bin Laden stated in his speech that the America that was attacked on Sept. 11 was now an “America filled with fear from the north, south, east and west, thank God.” Terrorism will never tear the United States apart. As President George W. Bush said after the Sept. 11 attacks, the state of our union si strong.