Both of these apologists usually have one common denominator: neither of them have ever picked up the Qur'an, nor are they usually even aware of what the Hadith is, much less have read it. Take for example David Forte, President Bush's advisor on Islam, who is the author of the above quote. He's not a Muslim. He doesn't speak Arabic. He merely "dabbles" in Islamic jurisprudence, and refers to himself as a student, not an expert. Yet he feels he has the authority to tell us Bin Laden and the jihadists are not only not Muslims, they aren't religious at all.

It is this type of blind, reckless and widespread ignorance that we're up against in getting the truth out about Islam. So inbred is the secular Western belief that all religions are the same that some will never accept that Islam is a bloody cult founded by one of the worst war criminals in the history of humanity, no matter how much evidence you lay before them.

Either I have hope for the free people of the world, or I am a glutton for punishment.

To further tackle the myths that the terrorists hate us for their policies and/or that they've hijacked and bastardized religion in order to fulfill their bloodlust, I've compiled a survey of speeches, letters, and interviews by Osama bin Laden in order to show that A> it is not really our policies that he hates, and B> he is within his rights per Islamic doctrine to wage jihad against the West.

One of the most common obstacles in my argument against Islam as a religion of peace is the fact that, as far as we can tell, the vast majority of the world's one billion Muslims are peaceful, or at least do not openly engage in acts of violence. To begin, I will start with a quick excerpt from a 1999 Time Magazine Interview with Bin Laden in which the interviewer poses this exact question to Bin Laden:

TIME: But there are many Muslims who do not agree with your kind of violence.

Bin Laden: We should fully understand our religion. Fighting is a part of our religion and our Shari'a. Those who love God and his Prophet and this religion cannot deny that. Whoever denies even a minor tenet of our religion commits the gravest sin in Islam.

Bin Laden is correct in saying this. The Qur'an is the word of God, every word, every verse, every chapter, and there is no doubt that fighting the unbelievers is mandated in numerous Qur'anic and hadithic verse. A Muslim cannot pick and choose which tenets of Islamic doctrine to obey and which to cast aside. Allah tells us:

• Then do you believe in a part of the Scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment. And Allâh is not unaware of what you do. ([002.085])
  
• And whosoever of you turns back from his religion and dies as a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this life and in the Hereafter, and they will be the dwellers of the Fire. They will abide therein forever. ([002.217])

Muhammad's example as recorded in the hadith is to be emulated by Muslims for all time. Muhammad tells us:

During the last days there will appear some young foolish people who will say the best words but their faith will not go beyond their throats (i.e. they will have no faith) and will go out from (leave) their religion as an arrow goes out of the game. So, whereever you find them, kill them, for whoever kills them shall have reward on the Day of Resurrection. ([BUKHARI 009.084.064])

We see here that Bin Laden does not scour the Qur'an and hadith looking for excuses to kill non-Muslims, nor am I guilty of the same, looking for excuses to hate Muslims. Dislike of any of Allah's revelations is apostasy, and nowhere in Islamic scripture does the crime of apostasy warrant anything less than death in this world and eternal torment in the hell fire.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we'll continue in part two by disecting 3 of Bin Laden's messages to America: the World Islamic Front's Jihad against Jews and Crusaders, his first statement after 9-11 in October 2001, and his Letter to America from November 2002. At certain points I will interrupt the text to comment on what's said, at others I will just insert links to Islamic doctrine which validate what he says and does or to other links which either completely refute the charges he makes or otherwise makes him look stupid. To get the full understanding of what he's saying I encourgage you to visit and read these links. In order to provide uniformity in Bin Laden's Qu'ran quotations, I've altered the text to coincide with the links provided. The interpretations are still authentic.