The tight security within the borders of America greatly diminishes her number one concern: the terrorists are very unlikely to strike as long as the security measures remain as stern as they are now. As for Ms.Rice�s second consideration, it would have been quite sound had the videotaped messages of the Saudi rebel suggested that the very same rebel has a just or noble cause. No such thing! In my opinion, Bin Laden would go down in history as one of the false-est messiahs that ever lived for the very simple reason that he never had anything messianic to say.

Perhaps, Ms. Rice should encourage more of such vocal outbursts in order to better  convince the public that, alas, they are in no way dealing with a freedom-fighter, but a very provincial, simple-minded lunatic. Tape after tape, we see the same thing: bearded Osama, sporting the same expression of a sacrificial calf, which should probably be attributed to the plentitude of opium in the parts of his dwellings, calmly talking of methodical murder of Americans and Jews around the world. And just as calmly adding: American and Jewish civilians. I daresay, no one in his/her right mind will find this sort of Fascist blabber inspirational. The facts, nevertheless, beg to differ.

A dangerously growing number of Muslims around the world believe that Bin Laden is their hero and savior for whom they are ready to sacrifice their lives. If we were to don the mask of pure cynicism, we could say that, fine, the choice is utterly theirs if they are so keen on following it. However, the scary part is that they want to take the rest of us with them, even those who have sincere doubts or unwillingness towards discussing moral issues with prophets in the afterlife. I, for one, can find a million more useful things to do with eternity than argue with Mohammad over the right way to keep Ramadan. For example, totally ignore it: both eternity and Ramadan, I mean.

But to get back to the issue at hand, Bin Laden and �bin-ladens� are  becoming disturbingly popular in the Muslim world. I don�t think that this is only because that world is plagued by poverty. Killing Americans and Jews has never made anyone prosperous. The contrary, in fact, is closer to the truth: imitating their ways has. But, let us suppose that doing so is totally distasteful to the Islamic world for multitude of reasons. Then, the logic requires that they come up with a better alternative. Or, for that matter, just an alternative. What these self-proclaimed �freedom-fighters� suggest, however, is a blind and total return to the hard-core Islamic way of life. Taliban should be taken as a manifestation of such an  �utopia�.

No wonder, it was so easily achieved! It does not ask of human beings of inner reformation  and restructuring, as let�s say, the teachings of Christ, based on love and the renouncement of private property. Islam asks of one thing: pure obedience. And, as it turns out, not to the invisible Allah, but to the much too visible and rather pronounced mullahs and muftis. Of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the latter is the most politicized, and, therefore, most demanding of absolute obsequiousness. Any organized religion asks for unanimity in action and thought, i.e � absence of thought. Islam demands that its followers negate analytical thinking five times a day. That is precisely what a prayer is � a negation of independent thought. In its physical manifestation, prayer, as we saw on September 11^th could also mean negation of one�s and other people�s lives.

Ever since the American retaliation for the terrorist attack has begun, we, the public, have been reminded that this is not the war against Islam but against the terrorists. Alas, this is an inaccuracy: the terrorist are fighting in the name of Islam, and Bin Laden, one of their leaders, is a pure Islamist. His message is fanatically stupid: to drop whatever we are doing today and immediately head back to the 11^th century. If, let�s say, Sweden proposes that we should get back to the lifestyle enjoyed under the Vatican Popes, it would be dismissed as a  lunacy. The Muslim world, while it is being thoroughly bombed, is, at the same time, spared of much-too-deserved criticism and given an opportunity to weasel itself out of a straightforward dilemma. Thus, Saudi Arabia, which functions according to the Islamic laws and readily beheads sinners is, for some �politically-correct� reason, represented as a more moderate state than one proposed by the Taliban. Granted, the Saudis have more oil, but the severed heads of both governments, I suspect felt the same pain.

There is no such thing as moderate Islam. Just as there is no such thing as �little death�. This is the war for all or nothing.. For living or dying.  This is no time to appease religious lunatics. It is time to beat them to the point when they no longer get the access to the �infidel� cell-phones and computers through which they can message the destruction of innocent civilians. This is no time to discuss which of the muftis or mullahs makes more sense of the Koran. There is nothing to make sense of: Koran is a book; like all other books it consists of innocent words each of which could be turned to the not-so-innocent benefit of those who read it. Besides, this is also not the time to plunge into interpretations of Koran. As the former president Clinton said recently: this is the war for the soul of civilization. America has to keep in mind that in order for it to continue there need to be less hungry people in the world and as for Bin Laden� well, he should just be kept away from stones which he likes to hurl.