CNN today showed pieces of an Osama bin Laden interview
with Al-Jazeera, from 21 October, which had not previously been
aired.
The two sentences I picked up on probably
will not attract too much interest, because
they are "obviously absurd" (etc.), and the
kind of thing "we" are really interested in
is seeing if bin Laden admits to being behind
particular terrorist acts, etc.
"I tell you, freedom and human rights in
America are doomed. The United States
government will lead the American people and
the West in general into an unbearable hell
and a choking life." (Osama bin Laden,
Al-Jazeera interview, 21Oct01; reported on CNN's
Wolf Blitzer reports, 31Jan02)
bin Laden's imagery here struck me as eerily reminiscent of
something Hermann Broch wrote about the disintegration
of values in Europe from the late 19th century
into the early 20th century (including, of course,
World War I, Hitler's rise, etc.):
....a community of life that has ceased to justify
its existence, a so-called community devoid of force
but filled with evil will, a community that
drowns itself in blood and chokes in its
own poison gases.... (_The Sleepwalkers_ (1928-31),
p. 646).
While we presume bin Laden did not mean his
words to help us, I think they merit serious
reflection, on the perhaps not-so off chance that the
Pogo principle applies here to *us*, i.e., that
we have met the enemy and he is us -- or at
least that Al Qaeda's actions vis-a-vis us
may be something like
bombing a munitions dump: the [iatrogenic]
"secondaries" may cause far worse damage than
the "incoming" enemy ordinance itself....
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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