The Bin Laden Tape
Walid Phares provides a must-read analysis over at the Counterrorism Blog. There is much to take away from the tape, but I thought one of the more minor points was interesting. Bin Laden apparently took the time to discuss Salman Rushdie, the author of Satanic Verses who received a death sentence from Tehran decades ago. Phares notes:
Bin Laden goes back to the “apostate” Salman Rushdie case and accuses Great Britain and the US of dishonoring the Muslim sacred values and incitement and links this affair to the Guantanamo “insult to the holy book.”
Iran, of course, hasn't forgotten Rushdie either. Just recently The Guardian (UK) reported that Iran asked new suicide bomber recruits to sign up for a hit on Rushdie. The Guardian reported:
The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, which claims to be independent but has the backing of the regime, said it is targeting potential recruits in Britain because of the relative ease with which UK passport-holders can enter Israel. ...
Mohammad Samadi, a spokesman for the group, told the Guardian that striking at Israel was the priority of his recruitment drive. "The first target is Israel. For us, that is the battlefield," he said. "All the Jews are targets, whether military or civilian. It's our land and they are in the wrong place. It's their duty to pay attention to safety of their own families and move them away from the battlefield," he said.
Mr Samadi's group was participating in a recruitment fair for "martyrdom seekers" being held in the grounds of the former US embassy in Tehran. Several hundred volunteers have signed up for missions in the past few days.
Volunteers attracted to his group were asked to complete forms specifying whether they prefer to carry out operations against "the Quds occupiers" [Israel], the British author Salman Rushdie - subject of a death sentence passed by Iran's late spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, over The Satanic Verses - or "the occupiers of Islamic lands", the US and Britain. ...
Could bin Laden's reference to Rushdie be a bit of pro-Iran rhetoric? Just speculating...
Bin Laden goes back to the “apostate” Salman Rushdie case and accuses Great Britain and the US of dishonoring the Muslim sacred values and incitement and links this affair to the Guantanamo “insult to the holy book.”
Iran, of course, hasn't forgotten Rushdie either. Just recently The Guardian (UK) reported that Iran asked new suicide bomber recruits to sign up for a hit on Rushdie. The Guardian reported:
The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, which claims to be independent but has the backing of the regime, said it is targeting potential recruits in Britain because of the relative ease with which UK passport-holders can enter Israel. ...
Mohammad Samadi, a spokesman for the group, told the Guardian that striking at Israel was the priority of his recruitment drive. "The first target is Israel. For us, that is the battlefield," he said. "All the Jews are targets, whether military or civilian. It's our land and they are in the wrong place. It's their duty to pay attention to safety of their own families and move them away from the battlefield," he said.
Mr Samadi's group was participating in a recruitment fair for "martyrdom seekers" being held in the grounds of the former US embassy in Tehran. Several hundred volunteers have signed up for missions in the past few days.
Volunteers attracted to his group were asked to complete forms specifying whether they prefer to carry out operations against "the Quds occupiers" [Israel], the British author Salman Rushdie - subject of a death sentence passed by Iran's late spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, over The Satanic Verses - or "the occupiers of Islamic lands", the US and Britain. ...
Could bin Laden's reference to Rushdie be a bit of pro-Iran rhetoric? Just speculating...
posted by Thomas Joscelyn at 9:44 AM
<< Home