BrianGarst.com

Some actor named Matthew Modine said something dumb. I know, stop the press, right? But it’s worth addressing.

“Imagine if somebody were to really sit down with Osama Bin Ladin, and say, ‘listen man,what is it that you’re so angry at me about that you’re willing to have people strap bombs to themselves or get inside get inside of airplanes and fly them into buildings.’ That would be the miracle if we can get, sit down and talk to our enemies and find a way for them to hear us.”

Osama bin Laden has plenty of ways to hear us. The problem is he doesn’t like what he hears. Moreover, he’s already explained in significant detail why he’s mad at us.

In 1996 bin Laden issued a fatwa called “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places.” The land to which he refers, of the two holy places, is Saudi Arabia.

In the fatwa he relays a long list of grievances, many of them imagined, to justify his war on the United States. “It should not be hidden from you,” he wrote, “that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators; to the extent that the Muslims blood became the cheapest and their wealth as loot in the hands of the enemies.”

Much of his complaints also focus on Saudi Arabia, where he essentially blames the US for any efforts toward modernity and reform made by the ruling family. He demands the strict application of Shari’ah law. Are you listening, Mr. Modine?

Sometimes it is worthwhile to talk with one’s enemies. When their grievances are based in reality, and their leadership rational, non-violent solutions to disputes may be possible. But when the heart of the issue is an inflexible subservience to doctrinaire intolerance and oppression, talking is rather futile. Whatever one thinks is the appropriate policy response, Osama bin Laden’s demands for the death of America are not a good starting point for compromise.

Osama bin Laden