Much As I Have No Wish To

Osama Bin Laden, Who Is A Saudi, Feels Himself To Be A Patriot Because The U.s. Has Forces In Saudi Arabia, Which Is Sacred Because It Is The Land Of The Prophet Mohammed.

Every Single Empire In Its Official Discourse Has Said That It Is Not Like All The Others, That Its Circumstances Are Special, That It Has A Mission To Enlighten, Civilize, Bring Order And Democracy, And That It Uses Force Only As A Last Resort. And, Sadder Still, There Always Is A Chorus Of Willing Intellectuals To Say Calming Words About Benign Or Altruistic Empires.

Most Arabs And Muslims Feel That The United States Hasn't Really Been Paying Much Attention To Their Desires. They Think It Has Been Pursuing Its Policies For Its Own Sake And Not According To Many Of The Principles That It Claims Are Its Own - Democracy, Self-determination, Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of Assembly, International Law.

To Say That We're Going To End Countries Or Eradicate Terrorism, And That It's A Long War Over Many Years, With Many Different Instruments, Suggests A Much More Complex And Drawn-out Conflict For Which, I Think, Most Americans Aren't Prepared.

This [9/11 Event] Was Bloody-minded Destruction For No Other Reason Than To Do It. Note That There Was No Claim For These Attacks. There Were No Demands. There Were No Statements. It Was A Silent Piece Of Terror. This Was Part Of Nothing.