I just read an article about the crusades in relation to the wars in the Middle East. Shortly after the attacks on 11 September 2001, both president Bush and Osama Bin Laden used the word "crusade" to describe their wars. The word crusade actually has Christian connotations in its roots. In this sense, a crusade is always a christian war. Bush didn't know this at the time and regretted saying it. However, Bin Laden knew what he was doing. In the Muslim world, the word crusade often has a negative connotation. In Muslim eyes, the crusades were basically the Western world pooping on the Muslim world; killing islamic people, burning cities, and so on. So Bin Laden called the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan a crusade. In this way, he painted the (mostly western) coalition forces as invaders and infidels, and tried to act as the new Saladin in order to unite the Muslim world against the coalition.
Of course it's not all black and white, but whatever.
Also, in Libya, Gaddaffi's ceasefire was a bluff that I should have seen. oh well...
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