Romney takes Bin Laden, Iran to task

CHEROKEE, IOWA — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney hammered on radical jihadists and Iran’s nuclear potential while campaigning Saturday in the Little Sioux River Valley.

While visiting a community college, the former Massachusetts governor said the new video message from Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is nearly impossible for Americans to understand. “Who can be so deluded as he is?” Romney asked.

Romney told reporters afterward that Bin Laden’s ideas on Americans being coerced into converting to Islam “are not in line with rational thought.”

In the video, Bin Laden compares the Iraq war to the Vietnam War, criticizes Democrats for failing to prompt a U.S. pullout from Iraq and encourages Americans to welcome Islam.

“The whole radical jihadist movement is extraordinarily misguided and evil and is a form of delusion,” Romney said. “I was, in some respects, thankful that he reminded the people of the world what the face of evil looks like.”

While saying that he hopes Iran can be persuaded to give up its nuclear ambitions, he said the U.S. must “tighten the sanctions hard so that the people of Iran understand just what renegades their leaders seem like on the world stage.”