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liveonearthBelow I have quoted the closing paragraphs of Osama Bin Laden's broadcast on Al Jazeera TV from Thursday, January 19. I had not read it until today, but I am glad I finally did read it. He spoke about torture and rape, and of the hopeless suicides of American soldiers caught between fighting an unjust war and the punishing devices of a vicious government. He spoke about Bush's lies and of the financial support that he gets from "war merchants". Bin Laden is insightful and direct. I honor his fight to the death against our president, his cronies and our war and profit machine. I hear more compassion in his promise to give us hell than I hear in Bush's constant promise that they are "making progress" at sacrificing our young men for the almighty oil dollar. I am sorry that I am a hypocrite and pay taxes to a government which has so horrifically wronged so many people. As tax day approaches this becomes constantly more painful. There must be a better way.
The entire text can be found on the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4628932.stm
Bin Laden's words, which are clearly directed at the American people:
"Finally, I would like to tell you that the war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever as the wind blows in this direction with God's help.
If you win it, you should read the history. We are a nation that does not tolerate injustice and seek revenge forever.
Days and nights will not go by until we take revenge as we did on 11 September, God willing, and until your minds are exhausted and your lives become miserable and things turn [for the worse], which you detest.
As for us, we do not have anything to lose. The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain. You have occupied our land, defiled our honour, violated our dignity, shed our blood, ransacked our money, demolished our houses, rendered us homeless, and tampered with our security. We will treat you in the same way.
You tried to deny us the decent life, but you cannot deny us a decent death. Refraining from performing jihad, which is sanctioned by our religion, is an appalling sin. The best way of death for us is under the shadows of swords.
Do not be deluded by your power and modern weapons. Although they win some battles, they lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are better than them. What is important is the outcome.
We have been tolerant for 10 years in fighting the Soviet Union with our few weapons and we managed to drain their economy.
They became history, with God's help.
You should learn lessons from that. We will remain patient in fighting you, God willing, until the one whose time has come dies first. We will not escape the fight as long as we hold our weapons in our hands.
I swear not to die but a free man even if I taste the bitterness of death. I fear to be humiliated or betrayed.
Peace be upon those who follow guidance."
I (liveonearth) say---
PEACE BE UPON all who fight for truth in the face of greed, violence and treachery. For those who say Bin Laden is treacherous, I say: look, he has told us straight up what he will do and why. He has done this while our own leaders have lied to us incessantly for years and show no signs of stopping. Who is treacherous?
.....................The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain.
The entire text can be found on the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4628932.stm
Bin Laden's words, which are clearly directed at the American people:
"Finally, I would like to tell you that the war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever as the wind blows in this direction with God's help.
If you win it, you should read the history. We are a nation that does not tolerate injustice and seek revenge forever.
Days and nights will not go by until we take revenge as we did on 11 September, God willing, and until your minds are exhausted and your lives become miserable and things turn [for the worse], which you detest.
As for us, we do not have anything to lose. The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain. You have occupied our land, defiled our honour, violated our dignity, shed our blood, ransacked our money, demolished our houses, rendered us homeless, and tampered with our security. We will treat you in the same way.
You tried to deny us the decent life, but you cannot deny us a decent death. Refraining from performing jihad, which is sanctioned by our religion, is an appalling sin. The best way of death for us is under the shadows of swords.
Do not be deluded by your power and modern weapons. Although they win some battles, they lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are better than them. What is important is the outcome.
We have been tolerant for 10 years in fighting the Soviet Union with our few weapons and we managed to drain their economy.
They became history, with God's help.
You should learn lessons from that. We will remain patient in fighting you, God willing, until the one whose time has come dies first. We will not escape the fight as long as we hold our weapons in our hands.
I swear not to die but a free man even if I taste the bitterness of death. I fear to be humiliated or betrayed.
Peace be upon those who follow guidance."
I (liveonearth) say---
PEACE BE UPON all who fight for truth in the face of greed, violence and treachery. For those who say Bin Laden is treacherous, I say: look, he has told us straight up what he will do and why. He has done this while our own leaders have lied to us incessantly for years and show no signs of stopping. Who is treacherous?
.....................The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain.
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They're all full of shit
Date: 2006-03-18 07:01 am (UTC)Re: They're all full of shit
Date: 2006-03-18 04:59 pm (UTC)As for whose god, it is my intuition that each of us has the ability to tune into an inner truth that is universal, that we all share. Some people call this God. One man says my amygdala (brain part responsible for spiritual experience) is hyperactive. My personal sense of god may be misguided or real, and I have no way of proving it either way. I have observed, though, that people who are able to tune into that spiritual sense of the Unity of Everything are compassionate and peaceful.
My belief is that Bin Laden, given peaceable times instead of being hunted like a dog, would be a sweet peaceful mystic instead of calling for sneak attacks on our rich populace. His violence is defensive and retaliatory, while Shrub's is motivated by greed. Not the same.
Blessed BE!
Re: They're all full of shit
Date: 2006-03-18 09:05 pm (UTC)I disagree with your opinion about Bin Laden, however. He has been a shit-stirrer and religious fanatic for many years. His main goal in life is to kill every single American on the planet. What did I do to him? I was born here... so that makes me evil?
Bin Laden is wealthy. He was born to privilege and has used his wealth to fund his wars. His violence is motivated by greed as well, calling for the demise of the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia, in order for Islam to be liberated. It is a religious greed, but greed nonetheless, with no thought to the lives he destroys to reach his goal.
I am not defending Bush. I never would. I despise him and his government, and the way he mistreats people in his country and around the world. I hate the way our country is so brainwashed. He, too, hides behind a religion to accomplish his personal goals. I do not hate him so blindly, though, that I see another man who is just as bad through rose-colored glasses.
shit stirrer
Date: 2006-03-19 10:01 pm (UTC)I know that there are fundamentalists out there who want to kill us because of where we were born. And that is insane. But it is more complex than this, because we have done more than be born here. You have done more than this to Bin Laden:
You and I pay taxes to an evil regime which is devastating the world pre-emptively in our name. We are complicit. We look the other way. We avoid the news for our mental health---because it is too painful to know what WE are funding. If we were fighting tooth and nail to stop our government, we'd be in the right. In not doing so, can we be in the right? I don't think so.
We ARE supporting the evil because it is convenient and confortable for us to not make waves. We keep our heads down--you more than me, but both of us to a degree. It's the American way. Far be it from us to jeopardize our comfort for some weirdo radicals on the other side of the planet.
Can you send me in the direction of good information about Bin Laden's beliefs? Or are your impressions garnered from the US mass media? The mass media take on Bin Laden sounds a lot like what you say.
I can be educated. Show me how you know that he is a greedy fanatic and not a pious man in dire straights. I confess to a general ignorance about the meaning and necessity of JIHAD within the Islamic faith. I must learn more.
Re: shit stirrer
Date: 2006-03-20 05:02 am (UTC)http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1551100.stm
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_laden
I stand up for, and promote the things that are important to me. I choose to live in the United States at this time, therefore I pay taxes. If I decide to move to another country at another time, I'll pay taxes to their corrupt government instead. I will pay taxes wherever I live, because I am more useful out of prison than in.
I avoid the news because I do not trust it to tell me the truth. I research things in such a way that I think and hope I am getting accurate information.
The way to change things is to get involved. I get involved in the things that are important to me and I make a difference where I can. I choose to NOT get involved in fighting the US government tooth and nail because it would do no good. The machine is too big. It's run by big money and corporations, all out for their own profit and interests.
In closing, I want to assure you my head isn't in the sand. I know what's going on. I think there are more effective ways to deal with things that making waves, and slowly but surely that's the direction I'm headed in.
making waves
Date: 2006-03-20 03:28 pm (UTC)I agree that we cannot take down this regime by attacking it directly. We need to enlist as many people as we can in the effort to remove our support from them. Only through mass participation will the methods of "getting involved" in local stuff make a difference.
I think of myself as one writer who takes the heat off folks who intuit the same truth but are afraid to attract attention. I do not know the absolute truth but I know my impressions and my mission is to write them. In writing them I get it out there, so everyone can think about it and discuss it. I am educated by way of people's reactions and the resources they turn me on to.
Maybe by "making waves" I can help raise awareness to encourage mass participation in small resistance to bring real change. I can hope.
It is sad that writing what appears obvious to me seems so dangerous in this age. Freedom of speech is fading fast.
On the news: whenever I hear Shrub speak I am amazed that every single thing that comes out of his mouth is spun. So yes, you're not getting the truth from watching TV news, but you are seeing what lies are being propagated. Non-critical thinkers buy it, you and I see it for what it is. BBC and wikipedia are good resources, and also subject to critical analysis. We hope they are unbiased, but in the end we each decide what we believe and what we dismiss as spin or disinformation.
a decent human being
Date: 2006-03-18 04:42 pm (UTC)I do wonder, what are your standards for decency?
The questions keep coming... What action would you recommend for a population consistently dominated and abused by our superior military might? Is there a way that they can stop us without threats and killing? Is there a way we can stop our own government without going to jail?
Re: a decent human being
Date: 2006-03-18 06:39 pm (UTC)It sounds like you are the sort of person I want on my side. For now I also work on consciousness raising, and I bide my time until the rest of the path become clear. Keep in touch.
Blessed BE!
no subject
Date: 2006-03-18 05:05 pm (UTC)couldn'twouldn't do anything about Katrina. HELLO!! They're too busy laughing all the way to the bank to give a fuck! And people are so hopelessly stupid and zoned into whatever fantasy they've been conditioned to worship that they don't even see it, even though the Bush administration's story has more holes than swiss cheese.As a "psychologist," I assert that the root of the problem is the way people think. That's gotta change.
the way people think
Date: 2006-03-18 06:40 pm (UTC)Re: the way people think
Date: 2006-03-18 08:28 pm (UTC)Re: the way people think
Date: 2006-03-19 10:11 pm (UTC)laughing all the way to the bank
Date: 2006-03-18 06:47 pm (UTC)The police state does not serve the people. It serves business and government.
Can't wait until you dig into the book: The Guru Papers. This book makes is SO CLEAR how religion is used as a form of individual MIND CONTROL and following from that, social control.
Re: laughing all the way to the bank
Date: 2006-03-18 08:39 pm (UTC)I'd like to add that people who watch TV constantly spend a frightful amount of money on bullshit consumer products.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-18 08:39 pm (UTC)get Tim on here
Date: 2006-03-19 10:03 pm (UTC)