Somalia??? Hundreds of thousands of
Muslim people were starving to death there, and we certainly weren't "indiscriminately bombing" anyone.
And Kosovo? Are you nuts? We bombed the Serbian
Christians there to
protect Muslims.
Nor did the U.N.-imposed (and supported by Muslim nations) on Iraq amount to "indiscriminate bombing". In case you forgot, Iraq had invaded another Arab state.
Well, I certainly doubt that given that the Kosovo War happened
after OBL/AQ issued their 1996 and 1998 fatwas.
You buy that shit? Check the date out --it's from
2002. That was post-9/11 propaganda intended to rally Muslims, mentioning a whole bunch of shit about which Q had never previously cared. They were reading our press clipping and playing to appeasers in the West.
If you want to see their real reasons, why not look at what they were saying
before they attacked us, in the actual fatwas they issued in 1996 and 1998 - both issued prior to the Kosovo war, and the latter right
before the attacks on our embassies? Here you go:
http://www.heritage.org/research/projects/enemy-detention/al-qaeda-declarations
The primary reason was that we had troops stationed in Saudi Arabia to provide assurances against another attack by Saddam -- that's why
the 1996 fatwa was entitled ""Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places,", with the "Two Holy Places" being Mecca and Medina. We didn't have troops at either place, but the mere fact that we had troops in the country period was enough of a motivation. Bombing not required.
No bitching about Kosovo, although he did bitch about Somalia in the first one. But again, that's a joke.
We were trying to prevent people from starving, not "indiscriminately bombing" them as you claim.
But he bitched about the government of Saudi veering away from strict sharia -- which he blamed on us and the Zionists, and he bitched a lot about the fact that some extremist terrorists watned by Egypt had been arrested in Albania and sent to Egypt. That really pissed him off.
The other issue that was mentioned was the "Zionist Conspiracy", which OBL essentially blamed for everything bad happening to any Muslim worldwide, including anti-guerilla activities in the Phillipines, and the afor-mentioned arrest of those Egyptians.
Bottom line is that your initial statement -- that 9/11 was in retaliation for "a decade of bombings" is wrong no matter how you look at it. Shit, the first fatwa was issued in 1996.