So let’s say this is a war, and let’s say Osama bin Laden is the enemy. What does that mean? If we’re going to go to war, we should know our enemy. Lack of intelligence has been cited again and again as a precursor to last week’s tragedy.
Osama bin Laden was born in Yemen and raised in Saudi Arabia. He was a Saudi citizen until 1994. The bin Laden family became wealthy in the construction business and Osama is said to have inherited $300 million when his father died in 1988. In the 1980s, Osama bin Laden joined the Afghan mujahedin in what was considered a holy war to push the Soviet army out of Afghanistan. By some accounts, bin Laden was a soldier, by others a fundraiser for the Afghan forces. The Saudi and American governments provided most of the funding for the mujahedin. Bin Laden had some contact with the CIA at that time and may have received CIA training.
The mujahedin drove the Soviets from Afghanistan and shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Bin Laden and the Afghans believe they not only defeated a superpower, they think they destroyed it. They believe this was possible because they were acting as God’s agents. In America, we’re still having trouble believing we could be attacked in such a merciless way, but the terrorists who did this may well believe they had destroyed one superpower and are now ordained by God to destroy another.
Leaving Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia, which was soon threatened by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Bin Laden and people like him called for the mobilization of another Muslim army to eject Saddam’s forces. Instead, the Saudi royal family allied the country with the U.S. and western powers, going so far as to allow U.S. forces into Saudi Arabia. For Islamic fundamentalists, an American presence on Saudi soil, where Mohammed received his messages from Allah, constitutes sacrilege of the highest order.
The Saudi royal family promised the Americans would leave when Saddam was defeated, but the Gulf War ended and American military forces remain in Saudi Arabia to this day. Enraged, bin Laden began to instigate against the Saudi monarchy as an illegitimate government. His Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994; he fled to Sudan and subsequently to Afghanistan.
As was said of another foreign war – Charlie don’t surf. Our reality is not the same as Osama bin Laden’s reality. His vision of world affairs is one-sided and incomplete. So is ours. For the past week, politicians and commentators have repeated that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were also attacks on the American values of freedom and democracy. That’s the way it looks from here. That’s not the way it looks from Afghanistan. Although the videos of Mr. bin Laden show him sitting in a cave or a sandbagged bunker, he is not without technology. He has access to the world wide web, CNN and the BBC. He hears the commentary about American values of freedom and democracy. This week, the Pakistani government, acting on America’s behalf, asked Afghanistan’s Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani government is led by Pervez Musharraf, a general who seized political power in a coup d’etat. No freedom or democracy there. In Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden sees the United States allied with a despotic, repressive monarchy. No freedom, no democracy.
Osama bin Laden’s world views have been shaped by all this and by his contacts with our own CIA, the same CIA that has been America’s vehicle for state-sponsored terrorism for decades.
We will not win this war unless we know our enemy. That enemy may be Osama bin Laden. It may also mean admitting we have been at times our own worst enemy. And that means we will have to find a better way.
Charlie Don’t Surf
So let’s say this is a war, and let’s say Osama bin Laden is the enemy. What does that mean? If we’re going to go to war, we should know our enemy. Lack of intelligence has been cited again and again as a precursor to last week’s tragedy.
Osama bin Laden was born in Yemen and raised in Saudi Arabia. He was a Saudi citizen until 1994. The bin Laden family became wealthy in the construction business and Osama is said to have inherited $300 million when his father died in 1988. In the 1980s, Osama bin Laden joined the Afghan mujahedin in what was considered a holy war to push the Soviet army out of Afghanistan. By some accounts, bin Laden was a soldier, by others a fundraiser for the Afghan forces. The Saudi and American governments provided most of the funding for the mujahedin. Bin Laden had some contact with the CIA at that time and may have received CIA training.
The mujahedin drove the Soviets from Afghanistan and shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Bin Laden and the Afghans believe they not only defeated a superpower, they think they destroyed it. They believe this was possible because they were acting as God’s agents. In America, we’re still having trouble believing we could be attacked in such a merciless way, but the terrorists who did this may well believe they had destroyed one superpower and are now ordained by God to destroy another.
Leaving Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia, which was soon threatened by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Bin Laden and people like him called for the mobilization of another Muslim army to eject Saddam’s forces. Instead, the Saudi royal family allied the country with the U.S. and western powers, going so far as to allow U.S. forces into Saudi Arabia. For Islamic fundamentalists, an American presence on Saudi soil, where Mohammed received his messages from Allah, constitutes sacrilege of the highest order.
The Saudi royal family promised the Americans would leave when Saddam was defeated, but the Gulf War ended and American military forces remain in Saudi Arabia to this day. Enraged, bin Laden began to instigate against the Saudi monarchy as an illegitimate government. His Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994; he fled to Sudan and subsequently to Afghanistan.
As was said of another foreign war – Charlie don’t surf. Our reality is not the same as Osama bin Laden’s reality. His vision of world affairs is one-sided and incomplete. So is ours. For the past week, politicians and commentators have repeated that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were also attacks on the American values of freedom and democracy. That’s the way it looks from here. That’s not the way it looks from Afghanistan. Although the videos of Mr. bin Laden show him sitting in a cave or a sandbagged bunker, he is not without technology. He has access to the world wide web, CNN and the BBC. He hears the commentary about American values of freedom and democracy. This week, the Pakistani government, acting on America’s behalf, asked Afghanistan’s Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani government is led by Pervez Musharraf, a general who seized political power in a coup d’etat. No freedom or democracy there. In Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden sees the United States allied with a despotic, repressive monarchy. No freedom, no democracy.
Osama bin Laden’s world views have been shaped by all this and by his contacts with our own CIA, the same CIA that has been America’s vehicle for state-sponsored terrorism for decades.
We will not win this war unless we know our enemy. That enemy may be Osama bin Laden. It may also mean admitting we have been at times our own worst enemy. And that means we will have to find a better way.