1099 and all that

Just because Osama is paranoid doesn't mean the infidel isn't out to get him.

That Osama tape "offers a truce to European nations if they pull their troops out of Muslim countries, and sets a three-month deadline starting April 15," reports CNN. "A CIA official said the remarks appear to be not only "an attempt to drive a wedge" between Europe and the United States, but also a "propaganda ploy" intended to "bolster the al Qaeda rank and file." Hidden messages, anyone? We donned our tin foil hat and came up with a couple of good ones:

Three months after April 15. If you're counting days (7 days/week x 4 weeks/lunar month x 3 months = 84 days) that would be July 8, the 905th anniversary of a milestone in the First Crusade in 1099, when "15,000 starving Christian soldiers marched around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders mocked them," according to Wikipedia. In an eerie convergence, it also marks the date, in 1630, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony celebrated its first Thanksgiving Day, not to mention the publication in 1889 of the first issue of The Wall Street Journal.

Alternatively, if Osama's thinking of three months in terms of calendar date, so much the better. July 15, 1099 is the day when "Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders, who slaughtered the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants."

Crusaders surrounded by Saladin's army, October 2, 1187 (Second Crusade), etching by Gustave Dore (left) and "Little Boy" mushroom cloud over Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

Of course the IDEAL date for the Mother of All Terrorist Acts would be October 2:

Saladin recaptured Jerusalem on October 2, 1187, after 88 years of Crusader rule. The name Salah ad Din means "Light of the Faith," "Righteousness of the Faith" or "Weapon of the Faith," and through the ages Saladin has been an inspiration for Muslims in many respects.

Comments

[goomp]

Thanks for the history lesson. It seems one of these dates will be a fun time for the terrorist legions to set off an A-bomb in the USA.