ROBERTSON: CBN's terrorism analyst, Erick Stakelbeck, is with us now for more on bin Laden's latest statements. Erick, what's bin Laden's game now?
STAKELBECK: Well, Pat, this is really a call to arms for jihadists around the world. I look at it as a “State of the Jihad” -- State of the Union-type address. Right now, one of the interesting things, Pat, is yesterday in this tape, he directly targeted civilians. Now, in the past, he said that only Western governments were the targets of the jihad. We know differently after 9-11, of course, but now he has openly said western civilians in the U.S. and Europe are targets. They are responsible for electing these governments, he says, and so now they are targets. Now, I believe, Pat, that he may be laying the groundwork here to justify an impending attack against Western civilians.
ROBERTSON: Well, Erick, he's also talking about the jihadists going to Darfur. Now, the Arab Muslims in Darfur, the Janjaweed, are fighting the black Muslims in Darfur and trying to eliminate them. It's genocide. Why would bin Laden want his people to go into Darfur?
STAKELBECK: Well, Pat, Sudan is someplace that's near and dear to bin Laden's heart. He is kind of a local hero there. Let's remember the Sudanese government gave him shelter and safe harbor in the early part of the 1990s, before he moved on to Afghanistan. Now, he ran jihadist camps there; he recruited terrorists there; he planned terrorist attacks against the West, all from Sudan. And, Pat, he even was a business leader in Sudan. He owned 35 companies in Sudan and employed over 4,000 Sudanese. So he's kind of a local legend there, and he still has a vested interest there.
ROBERTSON: Well, the other thing is Hamas has now said, “Our goals, and the goals of bin Laden and his followers are not the same.” Is that just a smokescreen? Does he really want to come in and help Hamas and move in Gaza against Israel.
STAKELBECK: He absolutely does, Pat. You know, Hamas leaders have to say that publicly. They are afraid of getting more funding cut from the international community. Privately, it's obviously a separate matter. But let's remember, Pat, the destruction of Israel is the third and final part of a three-stage plan for Al Qaeda. Now, number one is to win in Iraq, win the jihad there, turn it into a terrorist state. The second stage is to move that jihad in neighboring countries like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. And the third and final stage is to use the combined forces of Islam to destroy Israel once and for all.
ROBERTSON: Erick Stakelbeck, thank you very much. And, ladies and gentlemen, if we had listened to what Adolf Hitler said in Mein Kampf, the West might have been prepared, and World War II would have been averted. We are not listening to what these guys say. We are not listening to what not only the radical Muslims but Islam in general, we're not listening to what it says. And we don't believe it, because we say, “Well, it isn't politically correct to believe that any religious group would do what they claim they are going to do.” Well, you'd better believe them, and we'd better be prepared.
