Crusades, Crusades, Crusades.

Al Zawahiri's use of the term "Crusaders" to refer to American soldiers does not simply illustrate an unfortunately long historical memory. We in the United States tend to think of the war on terror as beginning on 9/11, or at most, sometime in the last 25 to 30 years. Perhaps when Iran took Americans hostage in 1979. But Al Qaeda views this war as just the latest phase in a conflict between Islam and non-believers that stretches back to the Middle Ages.

To Zawahiri, the Crusades were fought by Moslems to drive Christian invaders from Moslem lands. He is fighting the current war for the same reason. What he forgets is that Christendom fought the Crusades to take back the Holy Land from Moslem conquerors. The Middle East was Christian before it was Moslem. If the West were to take the same long view of this war as Zawahiri, we would be justified in seeking to take back the Middle East for Christianity. After all, Christians were there first.

Is that really how Zawahiri wants us to view this war?

-tdr