Making Osama's Dreams Come True

Mike Seccombe of the Sydney Morning Herald writes that the Bushies and Bin Laden agree on what stance to take towards Iraq. "For bin Laden's latest message, delivered via the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network, shows that if there is one person who wants a war on Iraq more than Bush, it's Osama bin Laden...Bin Laden leaves no doubt that he agrees with opponents of war in the West, that an invasion of Iraq will radicalise Muslims in that country and elsewhere." This is, of course, not only what he wants, but what he needs.

The macho, feel-good rhetoric since 9/11 that we're going out, kicking ass, and showing those evil-doers who's the real boss has masked the fact that Bin Laden and his fellow Islamists can't precipitate their larger goals (overthrow of insufficiently Islamic regimes, leading to a larger, Huntington-like battle between Islam and the West) unless there is a massive, unjust response to the 9/11 provocation. Well, it seems like that's what they're getting; the US is, in other words, playing directly into Osama's hands.