comment by Jerry Gordon

When Osama bin Laden let loose in an audio tape that the Pope was on a ‘crusade’ against Islam over the republication of the Danish Muhammad cartoons, something was amiss. Bin Laden was really addressing several recent initiatives by Pope Benedict XVI, whom our ally Bruce Tefft of Grendel Report fame has taken to calling the “Panzer Pope” because of his strong statements against the encroachment of the West by fundamentalist Islam. Bin Laden was sending out a coded message that he didn’t like the Vatican messing with the ‘holy land’ of Islam, Saudi Arabia, discussing the possibility of building churches there, probably to serve the needs, of hundreds of thousands of Catholics, Filipinos and others, employed in the Kingdom and by foreign companies doing business there. Doubtless any churches built would be in so-called foreign precincts behind walls, hidden from public view and the Wahhabi religious police.. We also understand that the Vatican is endeavoring to fashion a similar deal in Qatar. So, it must be distressing to bin Laden that the infidel is inside the chicken coop, so to speak. Bravo to the Panzer Pope in taking the message to the Islamic heartland.

AP, March 20, 2008

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican rejected on Thursday fresh accusations from Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the publication of cartoons mocking Islam’s Prophet Mohammad was part of a “new crusade” involving Pope Benedict.

“These accusations are totally unfounded,” the chief Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told Reuters, in response to an audio recording by bin Laden which was posted on the Internet to coincide with the birthday of the founder of Islam.

The Saudi-born militant leader said Europe would be punished for the cartoons, which were first published by a Danish paper in September 2005 and unleashed a bloody reaction after other newspapers around the world reprinted them the following year.

Last month several Danish newspapers republished one of the cartoons in solidarity with the cartoonist after three men were arrested on suspicion of plans to kill him. This sparked a fresh outburst of protest by Muslims.

“Your publications of these drawings — part of a new crusade in which the Pope of the Vatican had a significant role — is a confirmation from you that the war continues,” said bin Laden, addressing “those who are wise at the European Union.”

Lombardi said bin Laden’s accusations were not surprising.

“It is natural to think that he would lump the Vatican and the Pope together with all his perceived enemies. But this is not correct,” he said.

He recalled that the Pope himself had been quick to condemn the Danish cartoons and had launched a wider criticism of depictions of religious figures that offend members of different faiths.

He also pointed out that Pope Benedict, who himself deeply offended many Muslims with a 2006 speech depicting Islam as a violent faith, recently set up a permanent official dialogue with Muslim leaders.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; writing by Stephen Brown; edited by Richard Meares)