From the New York Times, with thanks to Ron:
CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 29 – President Bush took the unusual step on Wednesday of responding to one of Osama bin Laden’s taunting tape recordings, declaring that Mr. bin Laden’s recent call for Iraqis to boycott the elections in January “make the stakes of this pretty clear to me.”
“His vision of the world is where people don’t participate in democracy,” Mr. Bush said of Mr. bin Laden, Al Qaeda’s leader, who has eluded capture for more than three years. “His vision of the world is one in which there is no freedom of expression, freedom of religion and/or freedom of conscience. And that vision stands in stark contrast to the vision of, by far, the vast majority of Iraqis.”
Interesting. I hope he’s right, but the clear evidence that many Iraqis are attached to the Sharia is an indication that many are not as interested in freedom of conscience as Bush may wish them to be.