ANDREW SULLIVAN has an extensive analysis of the “Osama bin Laden letter” published by The Guardian. I think the letter is bogus, but Sullivan points out that in many ways that’s not the most important question.

Anyway, I’ve composed a reply:

Dear Osama:

Why do we hate you? Because you killed 3,000 Americans and want to kill more. And when you kill Americans, you’re dead meat — and so is anyone who helps you, and maybe anyone who sympathizes too loudly. The question now isn’t whether you will win. It’s whether the Bush Administration will succeed in disposing of you and your cause before you provoke a response that will cause Arab civilization, such as it is, to join the Aztecs, the Carthaginians, and others who overplayed their brutal hand against a superior foe.

A bit shorter than Osama’s, but then my grievance is simpler.

UPDATE: Mark Kleiman writes to ask if I’m endorsing genocide. No. It’s what I hope to prevent, as I made clear in an earlier post. But I do view genocide, or at least the destruction of Arab civilization (if not its people) as the inevitable result of Ladenite efforts to escalate and inflame the conflict unless the United States manages to win an early victory. If it’s “war to the knife,” well, there’s only one likely outcome.