Al-Qaeda laughs as Yemen government appeases terrorists

Yep, the Yemen government has yet again demonstrated its unwillingness to cooperate in bringing the architects of the USS Cole bombing to justice. For the full story follow this link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24449741/

It shouldn't be surprising to anyone studying the situation in the Middle East that these terrorists are not being brought to justice. The religious front hold all the political power there and secular authorities can only challenge it on threat of death. Its no small wonder that they roll over at the first opportunity and let their prisoners go, make deals, try to curry their favor while they're free to run around blowing up US soldiers. After all, they HATE us. Not just Al-Qaeda but the entire religious establishment over there. Of course they hate us. They hate that we try to represent reason over superstition, that we stand for something greater than who can be the most effective snake-oil salesman in the room. We have, despite all our problems with our own politics, a demand for evidence, a demand for the support of fact to prop up our leaders and to give them legitimacy. That is why Bush's lies about Iraq have so seriously undermined the respectability of his office and our status in the western world.

But in the Middle East it is lies backed up by violence which forms the basis of legitimacy of power. And were a system like ours to gain popularity there it would spell the end of all the petty power brokers and dictators' reigns of terror. Most Americans may hate Bush, but we won't have to worry about him next year. But nutcases like Bin Laden will have the Muslim world in their sway long after they are dead, and for generations to follow, until the day (if ever it will come) when religion is dethroned from respectability and its public voice is reduced to the attention we grant to daily horoscopes and the carnival fortune telling of Madame LaZomba.