Bin Laden call falls on deaf ears
A new tape recording from Osama bin Laden has been released in which he calls for Muslims everywhere to support the government of Hamas in Palestine and to start a new war in Western Sudan.
Both Hamas and Darfur were quick to distance themselves from the messenger.
Hamas official spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters news agency his organisation was "interested in good relations with the West".It is at times like these that we see how easily Bush's insistence on seeing the events in Palestine solely through Israeli eyes plays into the hands of radical Islamics.
"We call on the Western countries to reconsider their stance towards the Palestinian cause and the Muslim nation," he added.
Sudan's foreign ministry was quick to distance itself from the appeal. "Sudan has nothing to do with such statements," spokesman Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim said. "We are not concerned with any mujahideen or any crusade or any war with the international community. "We are keen on reaching a peaceful solution to the crisis in Darfur."
The government of Hamas have rejected bin Laden's call. But it will count for nothing. They will continue to be treated as if they are part of a world wide al Qaeda terrorist network.
Just as their sixteen month ceasefire with Israel is dismissed by the US and the Israelis, who continue to blame them for suicide bombings that other groups have already admitted responsibility for.
We are playing to a script, a script that has no bearing on reality; but has rather been fashioned to allow the US and Israel to demand that we all view events in the Middle East solely through their fractured prism.
It's a recipe for disaster, as most of us can make the distinction between the aims of bin Laden, who seeks to form a theocratic Islamic state; and the aims of Hamas, who seek to liberate the Palestinian people from occupation.
In Bush's black and white, with us or against us worldview, there is no distinction between the two. Both are "terrorists" with Mr Bush cast in the role of charger on a white steed.
It's a fantasy. And it's a very dangerous one.
For if we continue to treat - even those groups who explicitly reject bin Laden's calls - as if they are part of his network, then we begin to do his work for him.
The danger is that, eventually, Hamas and others will realise the futility of being reasonable with such unreasonable opponents, and will be driven into bin Laden's arms.
That is the problem with Mr Bush's over simplistic world view.
Rather than trying to starve the Palestinians into submission, Bush would be much better off accepting the political reality on the ground and engaging with it.
However, I fully expect Mr Bush will continue to engage with the rest of the planet solely through his own uniquely myopic world view.
And Hamas' offer of negotiations with the Israelis will continue to wither on the vine. A chance to negotiate with the organ grinder rather than the monkey will be needlessly thrown away.
Both Bush and bin Laden believe that God is guiding them. The world should be led by wiser men that these two ideologues.
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