Althouse: "There is... a rare historic opportunity... to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers, man-made law, and Western dominance."

May 19, 2011

"There is... a rare historic opportunity... to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers, man-made law, and Western dominance."

Osama bin Laden's posthumous message, praising the revolution in Tunisia and Egypt.

16 comments:

Henry said...: Oh, I thought he was addressing Wisconsin Democrats.; 5/19/11, 12:45 PM
windbag said...: Most interesting phrase "man-made law." That sums it up, eh?; 5/19/11, 12:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Poor Bin Laden. So many backward Muslim countries are finally seeing the possibility of real, meaningful political and economic improvement, and all he has to offer is a violent vision of spiritual nothingness.

Also, he is a dead, bloody carcass.; 5/19/11, 12:46 PM
Jim said...: For a guy trying to free himself from suspicions that he's a closet Muslim, an implicit endorsement of Sharia law is NOT going to be helpful.

Because, yes, that's what his audience is hearing when he talks about freeing themselves from "man-made law."

And THIS is the guy who is supposedly brilliant?; 5/19/11, 12:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Jim -- I don't think Bin Laden was a closet Muslim. He was just a Muslim in a closet. But now's got bullets in his head and he's in the ocean.; 5/19/11, 12:54 PM
Aye Chihuahua said...: Was it just me or did OBL sound like he was underwater as he was speaking?; 5/19/11, 12:58 PM
Tibore said...: As Michael Totten had noted: One of the things that really irked violent radicals is that protests like 2005 Lebanon March 14th "Cedar Revolution" accomplished more with nonviolence than the radical islamicists did with threats of war and violence.

Unfortunately, as Totten goes on to point out, if the effort is not sustained, radical violent groups like Hezbollah eventually re-emerge by virtue of merely remaining patient and waiting for the right time.

No direct lesson in all of that, other than the fact that the west should remember that these movements can indeed be threatened from the inside, by the very people they claim to represent. People like the late, unlamented Bin Laden must preach because they must continually sell their vision. It's not automatically bought. And the west shouldn't automatically presume that it is.; 5/19/11, 1:01 PM
Matt Brown said...: Yeah, he would say, "... to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers..." Because the first thing a person thinks about Sharia law is "freedom."; 5/19/11, 1:09 PM
BarryD said...: Bin Laden wrote lyrics for Reggae singers? Who knew!; 5/19/11, 1:19 PM
Toad Trend said...: "There is... a rare historic opportunity... to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers, man-made law, and..."

Sharia law is the answer.; 5/19/11, 1:20 PM
edutcher said...: As opposed to all that degredation visited on them by mad mullahs, political cutthroats, and various fanatics.; 5/19/11, 1:57 PM
Phil 314 said...: Who's Osama Bin Ladin?; 5/19/11, 3:51 PM
Methadras said...: This is the Pakistani compound for those that care.; 5/19/11, 3:57 PM
rhhardin said...: It's a postaqueous message, actually.; 5/19/11, 5:46 PM
Lucien said...: Uh-Oh. Looks like Jim is either being rather arch, or came down with a touch of that Osama/Obama transposition that's been going around lately.; 5/19/11, 6:31 PM
JAL said...: There is... a rare historic opportunity... to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers, man-made law, and

Wasn't that the American Declaration of Independence?; 5/20/11, 12:41 AM