Bin Laden's Warning: Obey or Die
By Barbara J. Stock
January 3, 2005

Once again, Osama Bin Laden, hero to many in the Islamic world, has spoken. What did he say? Basically he said, "Do as I say or die." If Iraqis dare to vote for their own future, they will be considered "infidels" which in Muslim-speak means that they will become fair and legal targets. Not only will those voting be fair game but so will their children, wives, parents, and probably the family dog as well. This is the loving and kind nature of Islam. Do as you are told or die. Think of the numbers. If even 50 percent of the Iraq population votes, that means that millions of Iraqi's are perfectly legal--according to Islamic law and bin Laden--to kill. Mohammed, the loving and peaceful, would demand it.

Most people may not know that in Islamic-governed countries, a man cannot even leave Islam if he wishes. If a man decides that he wants to convert to Christianity, he will be arrested, tortured, and re-educated. If he doesn't learn the lesson that leaving Islam is not allowed he may be killed. His only crime--punishable by death--is daring to leave the kind and loving arms of Islam.

Even in non-Muslim countries it's risky to try to leave the benevolent grasp of Islam. Many are forced to move to another city to escape the harassment from other Muslims who feel insanity must have made the unenlightened abandon Islam. These unfortunate fallen Muslims must be shown the error of their ways and returned to the fold. If it takes threats to their families, well, Allah will be pleased so it is acceptable. Freedom is not allowed in Islam.

In one translation of Osama's latest monolog, he refers to Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as a "disciple." Is Bin Laden trying to compare himself to Jesus? I don't recall Peter or John beheading anyone to impress Jesus. There seems to be an ego battle going on between these two men. Osama is hiding in caves and on the run doing nothing more than releasing boring video or audio tapes occasionally and al-Zarqawi is out there "doing Allah's work." Bin Laden has the money; al-Zarqawi has the muscle. They make quite a pair, don't they? Both are perfect representatives of Islam.

Researching Islam has been a fascinating endeavor. What I have discovered is that while the hard-core Islamics brag of their growing numbers, they ignore the Muslims-in-name-only and there are probably millions of those. They don't pray five times a day, they don't go to Mosque, and often don't even admit to being Muslim. There is another group of Muslims the Islamic leaders don't want to admit to--the number of Muslims leaving Islam when they wake up to the horror that is their "religion." As I have read the words of many ex-Muslims, this has been the biggest shock of their lives, traumatic and heart-wrenching, as they realize that they have been lied to all their lives. Islam is a "religion" of oppression, aggression, hate, and war-not peace. Facing the truth is only half the battle. Breaking away from the iron grip of Islam is perhaps the hardest and most dangerous part. Islam demands absolute and complete obedience. The leaders will tolerate nothing less.

Iraqi voters must now overcome their fear of the punishment inflicted by a furious fundamentalist Islamic terrorist. Bin Laden has issued his warning. Any Iraqi that dares vote will be targeted for death by his "disciple" in Iraq, al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi hates Shi'a Muslims to start with as does Bin Laden. They are both from the Sunni sect of Islam. The majority in Iraq is Shi'a so it would delight the dynamic devil-duo to slaughter them. The fact that the Shi'as are also Muslim means nothing to them. Obey or die. This seems to be the first law of Islam.

Even now, leading up to the election that frightens Bin Laden so much, the bloodbath continues. On a daily basis, Iraqis are targeted and butchered like animals as a warning to the rest. The Iraqi people, so long oppressed and subjugated under the ruthless dictatorship of Saddam, are easy targets for an equally ruthless Islamic fundamentalist. For thirty years, if the Iraqi people even thought about fighting back, severe punishment and death quickly followed. Psychologically, the Iraqi people are ill prepared for this fight. Many Americans are bewildered. They ask, "Why don't they fight back?" The answer: many do not know how.

One thing Westerners must understand is that there are no rules in this fight. So called "martyrs" have been found tied into the cars and the bombs remotely detonated. Reports are numerous concerning families being held hostage to force the men to fight. While there are many who fight willingly because they were powerful under Saddam and foolishly believe they will be in charge should the terrorists be successful, most Iraqis just want peace without Islamic rule. What they are learning is that Islamic rule is just as bad as Saddam. In many ways, it would be worse. All one has to do is look to the Taliban, who are also Sunni Muslims, to see how life would be under bin Laden's rule.

What the Iraqi people and Muslims everywhere need to understand is that God has nothing to do with this fight. As with evil dictators of the past, all these men like bin Laden care about is their own power. They are using the fear of Allah and years of brainwashing to accomplish their goal of world domination for themselves. It is not God's rules that they are trying to enforce, but their own evil vision of how the world should be.

This "vision" is a nightmare. Like a vision from "Dante's Inferno," life would truly be hell for anyone under true and strict Islamic rule. Perhaps instead of Muslims claiming to be only for peace and love, they should give Islam a new and more accurate slogan: "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.