We were told that a counterstrike might follow last week's air attacks on Afghanistan. But we did not expect that it would come so soon or that the weapon of choice would be videotape. About an hour after the bombing campaign began, Americans were dumbstruck to see the placid face of the enemy, Osama bin Laden, in their living rooms. Outside a secret cave hideout, a Kalashnikov rifle beside him, he directly challenged the official U.S. line by casting the fight, in flowery classical Arabic, as one between Islam and the West. "America," he said, "will never taste security and safety unless we feel security and safety in our land."
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