Jinn of Current Events

In what is claimed to be a letter to America from Bin Laden, the Guardian Unlimited Observer writes: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you? The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam meaning complete submission to Sharia and discarding all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with [Islam]. At this stage, it doesn't matter whether this letter was truly penned by Bin Laden. This is a Declaration of War of Islam against the USA, with the goal of abolishing the American Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Freedom.

This is going to be a long and bloody war, first because the enemy of freedom has dominant religious-cultural roots in many countries and has already infiltrated the Western world, and second but much more importantly because few people in the West are willing to oppose them on principle — the Enlightenment principle of reason and individual freedom against faith and state power. Islam presided over the last Dark Ages, and its modern proponents want to take us back there, as they did under the Talibans in Afghanistan. Either a Second American Revolution frees the world, or we are heading straight into a new Dark Age. 

USS Clueless: It is now a foregone conclusion that the crisis with respect to Iraq will center on the report they are required to file on December 8, because it is now a foregone conclusion that it will be a pack of lies. Their diplomats are already trying to lay the groundwork for that report, because it's going to say that they have no forbidden weapons. The only major open questions are: what form of lies will the Iraqis choose? will the UN inspectors attempt to shield Saddam? when will the US military attack? and will the UN survive?