Even if USA won't say it, terrorists want religious war
From the beginning of the war he declared on terrorism, President Bush has said its targets are the people who put America in their cross hairs, not the Islamic religion. But for those Muslims who are on the other side of the battle line, religious beliefs are at the heart of this conflict.
"Every Muslim should rush to defend Islam," Osama bin Laden said shortly after the United States attacked his forces in Afghanistan in retaliation for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Some extremists apparently have taken up bin Laden's call: In quick order this month, an American Green Beret was killed when an explosion was set off in a karaoke bar in the Philippines; a Marine died when two gunmen fired on Americans taking part in a military exercise in Kuwait, and 180 people, including several Americans, perished when bomb explosions ripped through a nightclub full of foreigners in Bali. All of this carnage...