NP - BIN LADEN DOCTRINE

[David Morris]

http://www.vpostrel.com/

BIN LADEN DOCTRINE: The Osama bin Laden speech broadcast after allied 
attacks on Afghanistan began (though obviously, from both the sunlight and 
contents, taped earlier) opened in an interesting way: "Let the whole world 
know that we shall never accept that the tragedy of Andalusia would be 
repeated in Palestine. We cannot accept that Palestine will become Jewish."

Andalusia was Muslim Spain, which in its Golden Age nurtured learning, 
trade, and (by the standards of the day) religious tolerance. But according 
to at least some Muslim interpretations of history what looks like greatness 
to the West was really a form of weakness. Prosperity and pluralism led to 
lax practice and division among Muslims. Lax practice and division led to 
brutal reconquest by militant Christianity. Bin Laden and his followers have 
a 500-year-old grudge, and what they've learned from history impels their 
actions today.

Remember the Breshnev Doctrine—that no communist country should ever go 
non-communist? That doctrine motivated the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to 
prop up the Soviet-backed regime there. Now we have the Bin Laden doctrine, 
that no Muslim territory should ever become non-Muslim. To become pluralist 
is to take the first step toward becoming non-Muslim. And to permit such a 
change would be to repeat the "tragedy of Andalusia." In this context, the 
world must inevitably be split into "the camp of belief and the disbelief." 
There is no middle ground, and no room for tolerance. [Posted 10/7.]



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