Didn't hear Pat, but as you know ObL was from Saudi Arabia; when our troops were there he saw it as a trangression of mamoth proportions: the infidels on their holy ground. THAT is the source of his hatred, no matter how looney it sounds to us.
Yes. That's part of it. Osama bin Laden was exiled from Saudi Arabia because he objected to the US presence involved in fighting the Gulf War.
bin Laden and his predecessors -- radical fundamentalist Islamics like the Mufti of Jerusalem (WW II) and the Omdurman dervishes of Kitchener's Khartoum -- object to the presence of Western civilization in any part of the Muslim world.
In the 19th century, they fought the Brits -- because they were there and because they represented the "intrusive" West and its secular, liberal (classical sense) culture. Now, in the 21st century, it's our turn, for we have committed the same sins in their eyes -- we are there and we represent the West and its culture.
Islam breeds movements like this every 50 to 100 years. Nothing is new, under the sun.
I don't really care why he is after us, that he is after us is enough for me.
That excuse is as lame as the one that said the North was fighting to preserve the Union.
What are you trying to do here, disqualify yourself as a historian?
But Pat Buchanan today said something to the effect that it has to do with our being in Saudi Arabia.
Ah, you're buying into the "blame the victim" line be put out by Pat, the libertarians, and the losers on the left. I'm surprised such a bright guy like you would fall for that one.
Furthermore, OBL is so far removed from the front lines that none of us has ever seen him except on that video tape that we see played over and over again. So we really don't know about him. Even our governmt tells us they can't find him. Yet, for someone they have never seen or talked to, they claim to know that he is against our Bill of Rights, hates freedom, and even enough detail to know that he was the man behind last weeks attacks. Ya know it just doesn't wash.
I'm glad we have you, as you watch Dan Rather so diligently, to keep us informed of what is really going on in the world. I mean, the gov't with operatives all over the world, previous involvement with operatives in Afghanistan during the USSRs war there, and their intelligence gathering during various other attacks on America, i.e. WTC #1, embassy attacks, and the USS Cole, couldn't possibly understand much about this issue.
And if it is possible for a man to be so powerful and so hidden then i have to wonder if other countries don't have powerful men such as these hiding in the background while the leaders we see on TV everyday are the ones we think are leading.
Yeow, what are you trying to do here, convince me you're a paranoid CTist?
You should stow your gov't paranoia for the duration. There will be plenty for you to bellyache about once the gov't has saved your a$$ from another WTC like attack, or much worse.
OBL is after us because 1) we are not Muslim, 2) we are powerfull, 3) we are rich, 4) we are decadent, 5) we set foot in Saudi Arabia. 3 & 4 are closely related to freedom. 2 & 3 are sources of jealousy.