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Muslim Leader Warns U.S. Attacks Could Make Bin Laden "Legendary Hero"
BEIRUT, Oct. 8 (IslamOnline and News Agencies) - Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual guide of Lebanese Muslims, said Monday the United States has mistakenly made a "legendary" hero out of Osama bin Laden.
"The United States made bin Laden a legendary hero - a title he does not deserve - even without proving his implication" in the September 11th terror attacks on the U.S., Fadlallah told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The U.S.-led strikes, which started Sunday and have continued on through Monday, "will have a negative effect on the Arab and Muslim world, not because the Muslims backed the [anti-U.S.] attacks, but because they will result in many innocent victims," he said.
Fadlallah said, "the declarations made by U.S. President Georges W. Bush and his Secretary of State [Colin Powell] who said the campaign against Afghanistan will be followed by others have given the Arab and Islamic world the feeling that they could be targeted next."
"We refuse this way of fighting against terrorism and we assert that the reasons behind terrorism should be addressed," he said.
"The United States took the right to define terrorism, and excluded the Israeli terrorism which uses American military warplanes against defenseless Palestinians," he said.
Earlier Monday, Emir Talal Bin Abdel Aziz, the brother of the Saudi monarch, said that the Arab people took the side of bin Laden not because they are convinced of his actions and beliefs, but because of their hatred of U.S. policy in the Middle East.
Many Arabs, Muslims, human rights groups and much of the international community, has criticized the U.S. for its unwavering support of illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The U.S. has long been regarded as granting verbal, military and monetary support to Israel's aggressions against the Palestinians, the latest of which has claimed almost 700 Palestinian lives since the beginning of the current Intifada, or uprising.
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