Bin Laden comes out against satan

NY Daily News:

Osama Bin Laden told Pakistanis their leaders are "allies of Satan" in a newly released tape, urging them to fight the offensive in tribal areas where Al Qaeda and the Taliban are entrenched.

Bin Laden zeroed in on the Swat Valley and the Pashtun tribal belt on the Afghan border for his 32nd taped rant since the 9/11 attacks.

The Pakistani army has fought extremists in Swat who are imposing a brutal version of shariah, or Islamic law. The army has also moved against Waziristan - home turf of Taliban, Al Qaeda leaders and friendly warlords.

"Are you for the establishment of the shariah or are you for those who wage war against it, from America, [Pakistani President] Zardari and his aides?" Bin Laden said, according to a transcript of the tape provided to the Daily News.

"Zardari and his army are the allies of Satan."

...

One of the ways you can tell a person is a religious bigot is the way they try to characterize their enemies as Satan or in league with him.

What the message let's us know is that bin Laden is deeply troubled by the offensive against the Taliban. He ignores the miscalculations of the Taliban that caused the Pakistan response, but that is just the kind of guy he is. Hopefully his discomfort is caused by the fact that we and the Pakistan army are closing in on him.