Thanks, but no thanks
Sudan's genocidal leaders ignored bin Laden's outreach.  Other Muslims should take it as a cut to act.
The Houston Chronicle
April 26, 2006

Osama bin Laden has been lethally adept at turning political grievance into bloodshed. In an audiotape released Sunday, he updated his complaints list, but with less resonance than he might have wished. The harangue included a call for Muslim jihad in Sudan — not, as you might think, to defend Muslim victims there, but to fight international peacekeepers who might be there to save them.

Bin Laden's battle cry to Sudan accompanied more precisely targeted complaints: He denounced the U.S and European cutoff of Hamas and condemned the West for letting Danish cartoonists mock the Prophet.

But even some of bin Laden's fellow extremists backed off from his proffered fellowship. Hamas, which has the stated goal of Israel's destruction, promptly distanced itself from his remarks. And Khartoum, even while arming and training Sudan's genocidal militias, said that it wanted no part of bin Laden's militant attentions.

There's little mystery — and no kindness — behind Khartoum's rejection. Alliance with bin Laden does no good for the Islamic government there, which treads a fine line between defying and placating the West.

In the western province of Darfur, Sudan's government supports the militias that now have murdered hundreds of thousands and displaced 2 million people. But Khartoum also aids the United States' war on terror, supplying resources like financial records seized from bin Laden, whom it expelled a decade back. For Khartoum, bin Laden is best publicly ignored.

Other Muslims, however, should comprehend bin Laden's latest rantings and what they imply. Having made a career of twisting Islam, bin Laden now flips its theology inside out. Sixty-five percent of Sudan is Muslim — including most victims of the Darfur genocide. Now, as the West contemplates an international peacekeeping force to save those Muslim lives, bin Laden wants jihad to fight this Western "imperialism."

Muslim countries, which have been inexcusably passive during the murder of Darfur's Muslims, should seize this moment to reclaim their honor. Fatema Abdul Rasul, the young founder of a Darfur-awareness program, with Citizens for Global Solutions, offers these proposals:

The Arab League should step forward at once to fund the cash-starved African Union peacekeepers. Canada, Rasul says, has pledged more aid than all Arab countries put together. Arab and Muslim leaders should also designate a high-level envoy to engage Khartoum in peacemaking. Finally, these countries should take the initiative in forming a Muslim peacekeeping force. It would be more effective and far more appropriate than installing non-Muslim peacekeepers — and deprive bin Laden of an opportunity to pervert the mercy Islam should provide.