Murderers have reasons to murder. Idiots have reasons to understand the evil murderers.
In a signal of either the gullibility of young Americans or a sinister turn in pro-Hamas propaganda, or both, the latest figure to capture the imagination of TikTok users is the terrorist behind 9/11, Osama bin Laden. It’s tempting to overlook this absurdity, yet the “rediscovery” of a bin Laden letter justifying the murder of innocents is a newsworthy development.
By “rediscovery” we mean the resurfacing in the wake of the Gaza war of bin Laden’s “Letter to Americans” of 2002. It sought to justify the attacks of 9/11 and more terrorist attacks against the West. It did so, in part, by condemning America’s policies in the Mideast, including its support for Israel, as harmful to Muslims.
Not to lessen their idiocy or moral depravity, but I
remember a lot of Americans saying things just like that starting on the afternoon of September
11, 2001. Remember the "why do they hate us?" essays that tried to
explain we deserved it? It's just that they were so outnumbered that
they learned to keep their hatred of America subdued--for a while.
I really am a glass is half-full kind of man, eh?
I have never forgotten what jihadis did to us. And want to do again. The real question is why do we hate us? Or more specifically, why does such a sizable fraction of our people hate America?
But to be fair to the kids, we also had a president who understood bin Laden's murderous rage.
UPDATE: Our enemies still want to kill us:
Note that for all the silly talk of how American military action creates jihadis, that America overwhelmingly helps friends battle jihadis without directly fighting them. That talk is a variation of the "let the Wookie win" theory of enemies. And on fighting terrorists, not all are Islamist terrorists.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.
