Eavesdropping
on Osama bin Laden
by
Fawaz A. Gerges
For
more than two hours in this training video tape, Osama bin
Laden, the Saudi dissident, who by sheer brutality, single-mindedness,
and luck brought about the first war of the 21st century,
roars with anger and defiance and pleads with the Muslim
umma (worldwide community) to wake up, rise up, and sweep
away the existing corrupt Arab political order. This sound
and fury mixed with bloodied, horrifying images of Palestinian,
Iraqi, and other Muslim children is designed to mobilize
and incite Arab and Muslim young men against their "infidel"
rulers and their American "masters" as well. Flooded
by a barrage of inflammatory poetry, religious messianism,
and raw tribalism, alienated young men will be unlikely
to be able to resist this powerful, tempting pull and will
more likely be enticed to sign in for martyrdom. As bin
Laden bluntly put it, "The only way to destroy this
atheism is by jihad, fighting, and bombings that bring martyrdom.
Only blood will wipe out the shame and the dishonor inflicted
on Muslims." This is the ideological fuel, which powered
the airplane suicidal hijackers.
Bilad
al-Harmein (Land of the Two Holy Places)
Several
themes are highlighted in this skillful propaganda tape.The
first revolves around the sacredness of Bilad al-Harmein
(Land of the Two Holy Places) in Mecca, Medina, Saudi Arabia,
and the profanity of the US military presence in the Saudi
Kingdom. Bin Laden uses fiery religious symbolism to appeal
to Muslims’ sensibilities and shock them out of their
political slumber. Standing in front of a wall-sized map
of the world, symbolizing the scope of the problems and
solutions he wants his Muslim audience to be conscious of,
he cries, "The wounds of the Muslims are deep everywhere.
But today our wounds are deeper because the crusaders and
the Jews have joined together to invade the heart of Dar
al-Islam (The Abode of Islam): our most sacred places in
Saudi Arabia, Mecca and Medina, including the prophet’s
Mosque, and the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
(al-Quds)."
Throughout
the tape, alternating images of American troops in Saudi
Arabia with former US presidents visiting, socializing,
and fraternizing with Saudi rulers are designed to show
that the latter have not only failed to protect Islam’s
most sacred places but they have also forsaken their moral
and religious responsibilities. Worse still in bin Laden’s
eyes is the fact that Saudi rulers allow American Jewish
and Christian male and female soldiers to roam freely on
the land where the Prophet Muhammad was born and the Quran
descended. "How could it be, bin Laden asks rhetorically,
"that the Americans are permitted to wander freely
on the Prophet’s land? Have Muslim peoples lost their
faith? Have they forsaken the prophet’s religion? Forgive
me, Allah, I wash my hands of these rulers!"
Make
no mistake: first and foremost bin Laden is concerned about
his home front in Saudi Arabia. His main goal is to challenge
and deny the very legitimacy of the Saudi royal family in
order to topple it. In this context, bin Laden resembles
other Islamists who focus on their immediate national environment.
They are religious nationalists. Under the thick layer of
bin Laden’s rhetoric of pan-Islamism and Islamic transnationalism
lies an unconscious Saudi nationalist similar to Iran’s
Ayatollah Khomeini and Sudan’s Hassan Turabi.
Palestine
Next,
bin Laden uses the Palestinian intifada and the prolonged
tragedy there very effectively, not only to appeal to the
honor of Arab men to defend religion and the sanctity of
their defenseless sisters and mothers who are being violated
by "the Jews" but also to mobilize the Muslim
umma against "cowardly Arab presidents and kings [who]
betray the Prophet’s path and way." Bin Laden
asks, "Where is the Muslim umma and its one billion believers?
The umma sees and hears that the Quran is being defamed,
burned, and used by the Jews as disposable tissues. Yet
it stands idly by." Visually, the transition from "Land
of the Two Holy Places" to "Palestine" focuses on images
of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Recitation of verses
from the Quran mentioning al-Aqsa supports this.
The
video also focuses extensively on the frequently recalled
killing of Palestinian boy Muhammad Durra, while his father
tried to shield him from Israeli soldiers’ fire. The
video and sound editing expertly intensify the emotion of
the scene: Muhammad’s father recites a moving poem,
mourning his baby’s death. The video skillfully uses
this dramatic occasion to attack the "cowardly Arab
rulers, thieves and cronies, who betrayed Palestine and
Palestinians and sold them out at the altar of material
and political gains." These denunciations of the Arab
governments are accompanied by images of cheerful American
leaders and a clip subtitled "The Army of the Saud family
dances with Christians and Jews during the al-Aqsa intifada."
Bin Laden aims at discrediting the Arab ruling establishment,
particularly in Saudi Arabia, and at exposing its collusion
with the Arabs’ tormentor — The United States.
He knows well that this issue resonates in the imagination
of many Arabs and Muslims who tend to uncritically subscribe
to this collusion conspiracy.
Again,
bin Laden’s emotional and charged appeals are wrapped
in both religious symbolism and tribalism - the powerful
symbol of al-Aqsa being under foreign occupation and the
violation of the sanctity of women’s and by turn men’s
honor. The audience is bombarded with gruesome pictures
of disfigured children and beatings of Palestinians women
by Israeli soldiers and frightening cries for Arab/Muslim
men to defend their religion and redeem their tarnished
honor. Any student of Arab culture and society appreciates
the potency of bin Laden’s two-pronged message deeply
embedded in the twin-concept of piety and honor. Many traditional
Arab men will likely respond to bin Laden’s effective
manipulation of cultural and religious norms and symbols.
A few others will be driven to join his Al Qaeda organization.
Iraq
Iraq
ranks third on bin Laden’s list of priorities and the
sorry state of affairs of the Muslim umma at this historical
juncture. Portrayal of infant death and malnutrition in
Iraq is used effectively to stress America’s brutality
and Arab rulers’ culpability in this continuing tragedy.
Bin Laden, tears in his eyes, accuses oppressive and autocratic
Arab rulers of being partners and participants in the crusaders’
siege of Iraq and Iraqi children, which has cost the lives
of "one million Iraqi children." "In what
religion’s name," asks bin Laden, "do they
besiege these innocent children all these long years? Why
do Iraqi children have to be punished?" Ironically,
bin Laden denounces Saddam Hussein and places him visually
in the same category as that of rulers of Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia.
This
speech, with accompanying images of American leaders receiving
and being honored by Arab rulers, is calculated to inflame
the passions of Arab and Muslim viewers against the United
States and its Muslim allies. Having listed and outlined
the threats facing the Muslim umma, bin Laden tells his
audience that after much reflection and search in the Quran,
the main problem facing Muslims lies in the love of this
world and hatred of death. "This is the most fundamental
reason for the dismal and shameful conditions of the Muslim
umma today." Thus he calls on Muslims to fight for Dar al-Islam
and castigates them for putting worldly affairs and obligations
over this vital necessity. Bin Laden reminds the believers
that their elders were more pious than they are because
they understood well that what matters most is not this
life but the afterlife. Two other shaykhs convey similar
messages. First heard is the voice of the Egyptian shaykh
Umar Abd al-Rahman, who was convicted in New York City of
conspiracy to carry out acts of terrorism. Then comes a
spiritual mentor of Bin Laden, Shaykh Abdullah Azzam, a
former professor in Jordan who was killed in a car explosion
in Pakistan during the struggle against the Soviet Union
in Afghanistan in 1989. The messages by the two shaykhs
are supposed to lend legitimacy and credibility to bin Laden’s.
This is another example of religious symbolism and authority.
The
Primacy of Jihad and Islamic State
What
is to be done about this sorry state of affairs? Again,
Bin Laden delves into religious history and Allah’s
Book [the Quran] to find the cure — migration (hijra)
and holy war (jihad). Appearing in a tent wearing a camouflage
jacket and a white Turban — resembling that worn by
Tajiks in western Afghanistan rather than that of the eastern
Pakhtun region and an assault rifle leaning against the
wall of the tent — bin Laden calls on Muslims, especially
the ulama [religious scholars], the tribal shaykhs, and
businessmen, to follow the historical example of hijra in
the time of the Prophet to mobilize the umma and to join
in the jihad. He stresses the importance of establishing
an Islamic state or a bridge, regardless of how tiny it
is, to spread the message. He cites the example of the Prophet
Muhammad in Mecca and how a few hundred migrants (muhajirun)
changed the course of Muslim history by defeating the great
powers of the day. Hence Muslims must fully and unconditionally
support the Islamic state in Afghanistan because it raises
the flag of jihad. Visually, the reference to the defeat
of the great powers is accompanied by a scene of the Taliban
capturing Kabul, the Afghan capital, and then of the hanging
of President Najib, whom the Soviet Union had installed
as ruler.
Several
points deserve highlighting. As usual, bin Laden invokes
both religious symbolism and tribalism to drive his message
home. His appeal is also politically astute and motivated,
including not only the ulama but also the tribal shaykhs
and businessmen. Far from being politically naïve and
uninitiated, bin Laden appears to appreciate the political
realities within the Muslim umma and aims at constructing
an inclusive alliance of the leading social forces and groups
there. Furthermore, like other militant Islamists bin Laden
is more concerned with change from top down, by the state,
than with reforming Muslim society from bottom up. The Saudi
dissident, like other Islamists, wants to capture power
and to establish an Islamic state as an essential step to
enforcing strict religious morality and standing up to the
great powers.
Strike
at Impotent America!
At
the heart of bin Laden’s message to Muslims is that
America, being weak and impotent, can be easily resisted
and even defeated. Bin Laden, in military costume, speaking
over a scene of a Soviet armored personnel carrier destroyed
by Muslim fighters in Chechnya, illustrated his point that
poorly armed but dedicated men can take on better equipped
adversaries. A passage of Quran recitation provides leads
into his speech: using very meager resources and military
means, the Afghan Mujahideen demolished one of the most
important human myths in history and the biggest military
apparatus [the Soviets]. We no longer fear the so-called
Great Powers. We believe that America is much weaker than
Russia; and our brothers who fought in Somalia told us that
they were astonished to observe how weak, impotent, and
cowardly the American soldier is. As soon as 80 American
troops were killed, they fled in the dark as fast they could,
after making a great deal of noise about the new international
order. America’s nightmares in Vietnam and Lebanon
[referring to the suicide attacks on the US embassy and
Marine barracks in the 1980s] will pale by comparison with
the forthcoming victory in al-Hijaz." Al-Hijaz is the western
province of Saudi Arabia where Mecca and Medina are located.
He appears to be referring to expelling the U.S. military
presence from Arabia, but U.S. forces are normally stationed
in the eastern provinces.
Anyone
who had previous doubts about bin Laden’s culpability
in attacking American interests and citizens worldwide will
be astonished by his bluntness and pride in taking credit
for inciting the Muslim youth against the United States.
The tape begins and ends with Bin Laden reciting a poem
about attack on USS Cole. Wearing the plain white head cover
of a religious teacher, he extols the young men in Najd,
Saudi Arabia, who have risen up and joined the jihad and
also praises the young men in Aden, Yemen, who demolished
the indestructible American destroyer USS Cole, directly
indicating approval and knowledge of that suicide bombing
in Aden.
Bin
Laden also heaps praise on the martyrs who attacked US targets
in Saudi Arabia and East Africa. They exemplify his assertion
that America is weak and can be brought down by dedicated
fighters with less sophisticated weapons, "Do people not
believe that the home of the Prophet and of his grandchildren
is occupied and under American-Jewish control? Thus to fight
Americans is fundamental to the Muslim faith and tawhid
[affirmation of the oneness of God]. We have incited the
umma against this angry occupier [the United States] to
expel it from the Land of the Two Holy Places. Some of the
youth [al-shabab, an evocative term used for young men who
are willing to fight] have responded positively to our incitement…
We view these shabab as great heroes who imitated our Prophet.
We incited, and they responded...I view these great men
with the utmost respect and humility. They have wiped away
the shame from the umma’s face."
Following
Bin Laden’s speech a brief clip shows his spiritual
mentor Shaykh Azzam speaking about terrorism, "We are terrorists,
and terrorism is our friend and companion. Let the West
and East know that we are terrorists and that we are terrifying
as well. We shall do our best in preparation to terrorize
Allah's enemy and our own. Thus terrorism is an obligation
in Allah’s religion." The placement of this speech
toward the climax of the segment on fighting against America,
and of the tape as a whole, implies that the Americans in
particular should be fearful of the terrorism Shaykh Azzam
is praising.
The
demonstration of America’s vulnerability concludes
with bin Laden reciting the poem about the bombing of the
USS Cole with which the tape began. Far from being innocent,
bin Laden is on record taking responsibility for the trail
of devastating bombings which has inflicted considerable
damage on US interests and citizens worldwide.
A
qualification is in order here. The direct target of bin
Laden’s propaganda strategy is not the United States
but rather the existing Arab political order. The United
States, the crusaders, and the Jews are indirect targets,
however. Bin Laden and his senior lieutenants think that
the United States sustains and supports the established
regimes, which, in turn, maintain the status quo and oppress
their peoples. As Ayman Zawahiri, bin Laden’s most
trusted confidant and right-hand man, who is featured in
the video tape, claimed "America is responsible for
everything that happens in Egypt and responsible or human
rights violations there, and in other Arab countries as
well." By attacking the United States, bin Laden and his
aides hope to hit two birds in one stone. They aim at making
it very costly for Washington to maintain its military presence
in the Arab world as well as vital political support for
the pro-Western Middle Eastern regimes. Bin Laden also aims
at mobilizing Muslim young men, particularly in Saudi Arabia,
and pushing them to destroy the temple on their heads and
everyone else’s. In this context, the 11 September
hideous attack on New York and Washington was a concrete
testament to the bloody effectiveness of this propaganda
exercise.
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