Ignore bin Laden’s Ranting at our Peril

By: Steve Yuhas

The leader of al Qaeda released a video tape for the second time in less than a week chiding the American people for not recognizing that our mistakes in foreign policy and our lack of conversion to part of the would-be world wide caliphate will be our demise.  As Osama bin Laden rears his ugly head on the anniversary of the airline attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania he urges his followers to continue killing.

Praising the 9-11 hijackers bin Laden says, “So I tell every young man among the youth of Islam: It is your duty to join the caravan (of martyrs) until the sufficiency is complete.” 

Unlike the video tape released just days before the anniversary of 9-11 that was a hodgepodge of wrist slaps for the Democratic Party to lessons in tax policy for Islamic states – the video on September 11, 2007 is more what followers of bin Laden’s ideology of Jihadist extremism enjoy.

But, truth be told, so many people from the Bush Administration to Democrats running for President and those sitting in Congress missed the boat when it came to understanding the value of the thirty minute rant from bin Laden during his first video just a few days ago.

The White House called bin Laden “impotent” and Mitt Romney used the video as an occasion to call bin Laden “deluded,” but what is missed by the Republicans and Democrats is the video that doesn’t sound threatening is the equivalent of the Tokyo Rose broadcasts that our great-grandfathers heard during World War II.

When bin Laden tells us to remember that it was we who put Bush back in the White House and that Democrats have not used their majority to refrain from war in Iraq or Afghanistan it is not because he wants to give us a lesson on democracy.  That portion of the tape may well be a continuation of the message released in July 2006 that told America to convert to Islam and we would live.

Much like the World War II generation did not understand that Hitler and the Nazis were being serious when they called for genetic purity in their 1000 year plan to become the master race – Americans are missing the point when bin Laden uses his infrequent air time to talk about what it is to be in control of a citizen decided government.

When Hitler told the world that Jews were the Axis of Evil in Europe and abroad in print and by mouth – nobody listened.  The world assumed that nobody could be as mad and no people would be so naïve as to allow someone like Hitler to actually carry out his plans.  The same is true for bin Laden and other radical Islamists who spell out for the West (and Arab countries that do not adhere to Sharia law) exactly what they will do and how they will accomplish their plans for a sect of Islam that will one day dominate the world.

America failed to listen to Hitler and we were dragged into a war with full knowledge that we were fighting a madman who spelled out in book and on tapes for all to hear exactly what his vision was of a German dominated world.  The same is true for bin Laden as political leaders from the WWII generation and Baby Boomers continue to clash over the use of words like “evil” and question whether or not people will do what they say they will in order to achieve an objective.

Generation X is now responsible for fighting a war against radical Islam that may very well have been avoided had we listened to bin Laden when he declared war on the West or when he was indicted for participating in so many attacks against American or Western targets.  It is the hope of many that we learn to take from bin laden and al Qaeda that what they say is what they mean and not to over-analyze anything that comes from the mountains of Pakistan, but simply to listen.

When Tokyo Rose was telling Allied forces that certain death would come to anyone who attempted to set foot on the Japanese mainland during WWII our great grandfathers knew that it would be unmitigated carnage.  We realized far too late that all we had to do was read what Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf and listen to what he and his henchmen said on the stump.  And, sadly, we realized six years ago today that had we taken bin Laden seriously after he not only warned us that he would attack us, but after he successfully attacked our interests around the world and on our own soil perhaps my generation would not be fighting our own WWII today.

Let it be known from this day forward that in order to fight our enemies in this world we first need to listen to them and let those who will be our leaders in the future leave the mind set of the past where nothing a radical says should be taken seriously.  Those who want to lead the free world must understand that calling bin Laden names will not make his message less worthy in the minds of those who find his message right on the money when it comes to taking on America and the West.

Generation X is fighting what is becoming World War III and to be ready to fight it on a global scale we must never underestimate the cult of personality that surrounds bin Laden.  Nor should we ever forget that so long as he is alive he will be the face of radical Islamists that want nothing more than for September 11th to be forgotten so that another date may transfix our images of evil.

As we remember those who died six years ago and as men and women serving in uniform all around the globe fight those who would slit our throats if they had the chance one lesson we should have learned by now is to listen to those who want to do us harm.  To this moment it appears that we’d rather degrade them and pretend that we understand Islamist culture when we do not understand the latter and far too often engage in the former.

Bin Laden is still alive, al Qaeda is still active and the cells that were once active with a central form of terror culture have metastasized into individual cells of death, like those in Germany, capable of taking the lead from al Qaeda and bin Laden, but acting alone to do just as much damage.  We are not done with our work as it relates to bin Laden because he is still alive and as it relates to our understanding of Jihad in the minds of young men living all around the globe we must learn now that they are not Tokyo Rose; rather, they are like Hitler and the world must treat them as such.

Did we learn nothing from our enemies in WWII?  Did we not learn from al Qaeda in all of the attacks through the 1990s and the worst attack of all in 2001?  Every candidate for President should be pushed not on the war in Iraq, but the broader war on terror with one easy question.  Do you believe Osama bin Laden and like minded Jihadists when they say they want to destroy America?

If the answer is no that person is not the right person for the job.  If they say yes – it will be breaking news, but regardless of party it would mark a paradigm shift in thinking for Baby Boomers and WWII hangers on who think with that bin Laden is a modern day propaganda minister rather than a madman and the face of evil. 

The next President of the United States needs to always remember the simple lesson from the past: when an enemy declares war against you and you do nothing they will most certainly win the first battle and inflict the most harm.  Military tacticians have understood the need to understand and listen to your enemy - it is time that candidates for Commander in Chief think and understand the same.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on AM 600 KOGO and may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com