Bin Laden Urges Pakistanis to Defend Islam Against Christianity

[ToBeMe]

• DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden issued a letter Thursday urging Pakistani Muslims to defend Islam against what he described as a Christian crusade, Qatar's al-Jazeera satellite television said.
  
  The television showed a picture of the letter, handwritten in Arabic, which it said was signed by bin Laden. A copy of the letter, dated Thursday, was not immediately available.
  
  ``Osama bin Laden called on Muslims in Pakistan to stand in the face of what he called a Christian crusade against Islam,'' a Jazeera newsreader quoted the letter as saying.
  
  ``Muslims in Afghanistan are being subjected to killing and the Pakistani government is standing beneath the Christian banner,'' the letter said.
  
  In Gaza, British Prime Minister Tony Blair voiced support for Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf who he said ``is trying to do his best for the people of Pakistan.''
  
  ``I hope that people realize that the desire of bin Laden is to create Taliban-type states all over the Arab and Muslims world,'' Blair said at a news conference with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
  
  Blair's official spokesman told reporters that the letter ''removes any doubts that he (bin Laden) is about anything other than destabilizing the region.''
  
  Jazeera did not show the brief letter in full although extracts could be read from the image displayed on television.
  
  ``The Christian crusader war against Islam has intensified...The world is split into two. Part of it is under the head of infidels (Christians) and the other half under the banner of Islam,'' it said.
  
  ``...Standing against wrong will strengthen us,'' it added.
  
  The United States has launched a military campaign against Muslim Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to flush out bin Laden, its main suspect in the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities.
  
  Pakistan has allied itself with the United States in its campaign.
  
  Jazeera has become the main conduit for statements by bin Laden. It has previously distributed a letter from him to international news agencies.
  
  It also showed footage of bin Laden making a statement immediately after the first U.S.-led raids on October 7, in which he praised the hijacked aircraft attacks on the United States which killed some 4,800 people.
  
  In that footage, bin Laden brushed claiming responsibility for the attacks, and pledged that the United States would ``not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine'' and American troops leave Saudi Arabia.
  

 

[mastertech01]

Yes, it now appears that Bin Laden is the one who is making it a war of the religions. Well hopefully our Generals are preparing for a massive convoy of supporters coming in from Pakistan. It would stand to reason, since over 2 million of their current residents are Afghani Refugees. I cant help but think about the Highway of Death scenes I drove by during the Gulf War. Trucks heaped with warriors rather than armored vehicles would be pretty easy pickings though.