In his latest audiotaped message, Osama bin Laden has offered immunity from further terrorist attacks to "our neighbors north of the Mediterranean" that "do not attack Muslim nations." In other words, Bin Laden is telling European nations that if they pull their troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, Al Qaeda will put them on its temporary "do not disturb" list.
Is this a serious offer, or something else?
European governments quickly denounced the Bin Laden bargain, saying they would not make deals with terrorists. No 21st century Neville Chamberlain stepped forward to proclaim "peace in our time" with the leader of Al Qaeda. Bin Laden most likely expected such rejection. So why did he make the offer?
Let's start with the least likely explanation of the tape: A war-weary Bin Laden wants to give peace a chance. Truces do have precedent in the military history of the Arabs as well as in the annals of terrorism, but they are considered to be tactical and temporary and may be unilaterally revoked when no longer advantageous. Even if Bin Laden does live up to his promise to suspend violence in Europe to give countries there time to consider his offer, he limited the cease-fire to three months.
And like all terrorists, Bin Laden disavows culpability. If further violence happens, "do not blame us," he says. "Blame yourselves."
Another possible explanation -- perhaps the one most widely accepted -- was that the offer represented a clever effort by the terrorist leader to divide Europe from the United States and divide antiwar European citizens from their governments. Or, as some have suggested, the tape may have been a secret signal to Bin Laden's Al Qaeda followers and an indication that attacks were imminent.
But here's another possible explanation: Perhaps the main purpose of the tape was to entice non-Muslim European radicals to join Islamic jihadists in attacking the U.S. and its allies.
Terrorism, like war, makes for strange alliances. In recent times, Palestinian terrorists recruited allies among European and Japanese revolutionaries, who flocked to training camps in Jordan and Lebanon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The non-Arabs allied with the Palestinians to demonstrate solidarity and acquire practical skills required for the global revolution they hoped to foster -- all under a secular, non-Muslim banner.
