Important terrorist leader now partly agrees with American president.
But he also said [Indonesia terrorists were] misguided and wrong to use bombs in a country at peace.
"Why use bombs in a non-conflict zone, preaching is enough," he said.
Perhaps other leaders may also partly agree with the Bush's vision.
Even without harsh experiences like two years in prison for conspiracy in a bombing costing two hundred innocent lives.
From a Breitbart.com article, Cleric Calls on Bush to Convert to Islam:
Cleric Calls on Bush to Convert to Islam [/] Jun 15 8:45 AM US/Eastern [/] By IRWAN FIRDAUS [/] Associated Press Writer [/] SOLO, Indonesia
A reputed leader of the al-Qaida-linked terror group blamed for deadly bombings across Indonesia on Thursday accused President Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard of waging wars against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir also called on Bush and Howard to convert to Islam, saying it was "the only way to save their souls," adding that families still grieving after the 2002 Bali blasts that killed many foreigners should also become Muslim to find "salvation and peace."
One hopes that U. S. President Bush, Austrailian Prime Minister Howard, and most grieving families will show appropriate courtesy toward Abu Bakar Bashir's concern for their souls and respectfully suggest that he might consider the wisdom of converting to the Savior of the New Testament and receiving eternal life as a free gift.
Bashir, 68, was released from prison Wednesday after completing a 26- month sentence for conspiracy in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was at a hardline Islamic boarding school that has spawned some of Southeast Asia's deadliest terrorists.
The firebrand cleric also declined to directly condemn young men who carry out bombings in Indonesia in the name of Islam, saying they he still considered them "holy warriors," because they believed they were defending the oppressed.
But he also said they misguided and wrong to use bombs in a country at peace.
"Why use bombs in a non-conflict zone, preaching is enough," he said.
Jemaah Islamiyah is accused of carrying out church bombings across the world's most populous Muslim nation in 2000, the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali, attacks in the capital Jakarta in 2003 and and a triple suicide bombing on Bali last October.
The attacks together killed more than 260 people, many of them foreigners, and have thrust Indonesia onto the front line of the global war on terror. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]
