Another interpretation of the Bin Laden tape..

[kentuck]

Since the "war on terror" is not a real war but rather a war of ideology, one needs to look at it from that perspective, assuming that it is real and not fabricated by our intelligence agencies. Assuming that it is real, Osama has offered a "truce". That is the keyword in his tape. Just to prove it, the "terrorists" in Iraq may release the female reporter in the next couple of days, just to prove they are operating in "good faith". The Arab people will see that they are the "good guys". If the US continues their aggressive policies in Iraq and Pakistan, people will be inclined to take the side of al Qaeda, not the Americans, to the point of joining al Qaeda and offering even more resistance to the American forces. This is a trap that someone, perhaps not Osama, is setting up to take advantage of the American incompetence. So Dick Cheney blathers on....

[MrModerate]

1. It's only a war in the minds of wackos like . . .

Bin Laden and the Bush administration -- and those who have been deluded by same.

More reasonable people realize that it's a police problem, requiring vastly more international cooperation and the *very* occasional application of quasi-military force in special circumstances.

[kentuck]

2. But where are the reasonable people ...?

with the balls to speak up? I agree with you.

[MrModerate]

3. Many of them live in Europe . . .

And the Middle East, for that matter.

They seem to have disappeared in America, and to a certain degree, in the UK.

[janx]

4. I agree with you. He's trying to appear rational and good. n/t