What did bin-laden say about Andalucia? In any case, I'm returning to the land of my dreams where I went to Universidad de Madrid in 1966-67. Taking my husband who is eager to tour Espana, and 2 friends who are trusting me to the the official translator. Maybe we'll cross paths in Madrid, MM?? We are so entusiasmados!

Good question! I read someone's reference to this in one of the other threads and I'm curious too. What was it... "Another Andalucía"???? What does this mean??

Maybe I'll see you in Madrid during Christmas/New Years, Chica369!

Saludos, MadridMan

Hi all!

He didn't mentionn Andalucía but Al-Andalus.

Al-Andalus was the name for the califate of Córdoba, the muslim kingdom that was formed well after the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula by arabs. As you may know, the christian kingdoms (astur-leonés, castellano, navarro y aragonés) kick out gradually the arabs (or their descendants as an army) from Spain. In 1492 the last arab subkingdom (Granada) was defeates by the Catholic Kings (Isabel and Fernando).

This terrorist refer to an historic fact from 5 centuries ago! It seems he thinks that Spain has to be muslim/arab or something like that. An analogy could be thinking that Florida has to be spanish because it was sometime spanish... it's ridicolous!

No matter what he says, it is just a bravado. Of course he can make a terrorist attack here or in any other ally country, but we can't allow him to modify our way or life or let him frighten us.

I hope allies captured him and bring him to justice for his crimes...

Fernando

Here's a link to bin Laden's reference of Andalusia... http://users.erols.com/zenithco/andalusia.html

Don't get the impression he's referring to peace and harmony between Christians, Jews, and Islam. He's saying that that will never happen again... if he can help it. That the world will be "purified" by the death of all Christians and Jews.

Wolf

I thought bin Laden's reference to Andalusia was interesting as I heard it too. Of course I knew immediately to what he was referring. Oddly enough he called the expulsion of the Moors something along the lines of a tragedy or something. The tragedy was not that Spain was muslim or not, but rather that she lost most of her most intelligent citizens.

For those of us who are listening to Bush tell us that we may be in for the long haul, history would bear that out. Remember that in Spain's quest to "regain" lands from the Moors, it took them well over 800 years...that in light of the fact that it took the Moors a matter of a couple of years to overrun a fractious peninsula.

Also remember that bin Laden has absolutely NO reckoning of what went on in Spain prior to the 15th century. If you go back to Alfonso X, the Wise, you'll find a king that called on Jew, Muslim, and Christian alike to expand the knowledge of the kingdom. The Jews translated texts not into Latin, but into Spanish. The Moors were called upon for their mathematic and medical expertise to educate. Alfonso truly was wise, but his successors were more interested in scapegoating than progress, to the ultimate demise of a great nation.

bin Laden could learn a lot from Alfonso, from cities like Toledo, where cultures coexisted in PEACE, without fantacism.

Last thought: As Boabdil, the last Moor emperor of Granada, looked back on his lost caliphate, it is said he cried. For this reason, you have El Suspiro del moro as a place name in the environs around Granada. The quote of the millenium was offered by his mother: "You weep like a child for that which you could not hold onto like a man." The ultimate dis...from MOM no less! :p

Actually, it was not Bin Laden's comment, but his "right hand man". Quite interesting that these idiots' historical memory goes back so far. And a little bit scary....