The concept of Jihad is a counterpart to the Christian “Just War” - a convoluted concept that most principled Christians find an abomination. Ironically, principled Muslims like the former Cat Stevens also found the 911 attacks as Jihad an abomination. It is a way to justify violence and aggression in religious philosophy. Both argued that war against a “greater evil” was a good, just, and “necessary” action. Technically, our invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq are Jihads or “Just Wars” as it was sold to the US public.

Originally, both concepts were based on the assumption of symmetrical warfare between nations of equivalent power. Fighting an unwinnable war was strictly forbidden as was the deliberate attacks on noncombatants and their resources [pillaging]. Originally only governments were authorized to wage Jihad. So by strict standards Bin Laden's call to Jihad to liberate Afghanistan was also a violation. Of course, historically nearly all rules for justified religious warfare have been totally trashed by adherents.

In theory at least both religious concepts strictly condemned wars of conquest that involved material gains. Needless to say this necessitated serious propaganda measures to frame wars in moral issues that involved “greater evils” and “past injustices”. It doesn't take a long historic memory to find past injustices committed by the US or many of the former European colonial empires. Of course with Muslims, dredging up past injustices to justify violence is strictly forbidden as forgiveness is mandated at the end of hostilities. Of course when leaders of offending countries absolutely refuse to admit past wrongdoing – much less pledge cessation – this theological problem vanishes.

There are basically two types of Jihad – as espoused by Muhammed: greater Jihad within the soul against evil and the lesser Jihad against invaders or oppressors. Jihad for the purposes of spreading Islam is also strictly forbidden – but often ignored. Muslims are exceptionally tolerant of other religions – as long as their adherents are 2^nd class citizens within their country. The lesser Jihad ends at cessation of hostilities and focus returns to greater Jihad.

Bin Laden offends many Muslims by totally ignoring the greater imperative of Jihad. This will always happen when one uses injustice as a pretext for personal aggrandizement – as he has repeatedly done. At worst Bin Laden is a megalomaniac, at best a misguided romantic. This is why he has no serious following among Islamic leadership. His appeal is to the anger and resentment of disenfranchised Muslims who desperately seek villains to combat. Bin Laden is an elitist playboy version of Che Guevara who generated mistrust and resentment within his allies.

Islam is as diverse a religion as Christianity – which has a long history of sectarian violence. Ghaddafi has this delusion that Islam will take over Europe with higher birth rates. The reality is that European culture will overwhelm Islam. European Muslims are already very different from their Middle Eastern counterparts with very different religious priorities. While the US has Sara Palin as a strong advocate for “traditional Christian values” or fundamentalism, Islam has its counterparts in the Wahhabi movement that is strongest in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and is the version promoted by Bin Laden. Wahhabis, like fundamentalists, promote religious “purity” with particular emphasis on sex, drugs and music and add diet for good measure. It should be noted that over two thirds of the Koran is shared with the Christian Bible and verses are selectively invoked to justify themselves over others.

What is clear to me is that the Jihad espoused by Bin Laden is clearly a perversion of faith. That is why so many high profile Muslims condemned the 911 attacks and the latter incitement to violence by Osama. While it has always been considered noble to die for ones' religious beliefs, making that choice for innocent civilians has never been highly regarded in any religion – other than Communism. The supreme irony in this situation is that our leaders exploited the perversion of faith first against the Soviet Union – actively exploiting fundamentalist religious doctrine to defeat the “Evil Empire”. The only way we can defeat or defuse the Wahhabi movement is to finally recognize it as the aberration within Islam that it is – instead of using false associations to frame the conflict as a cultural war against intolerant Muslims and alienate everyone with actual moral principles.