Here is another view to add to your collection, written by a
specialist in Middle East culture---people keep sending me these
things !
---Camilla

>
>>>>   >UNDERSTANDING BIN LADEN
>>>>   >
>>>>   >William O. Beeman
>>>>   >
>>>>   >The United States risks a severe miscalculation in
>>>>   >dealing with the destruction of the World Trade Center
>>>>   >and the attack on the Pentagon on Tuesday. This event
>>>>   >is not an isolated instance of violence. This is not an
>>>>   >"act of war." It is one symptom of a cancer that
>>>>   >threatens to metastasize. The root cause is not
>>>>   >terrorist activity, as has been widely stated. It is
>>>>   >the relationship between the United States and the
>>>>   >Islamic world. Until this central cancerous problem is
>>>>   >treated, Americans will never be free from fear.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >Merely locating and hunting down a single "guilty
>>>>   >party" in this case will not stop future violence: such
>>>>   >an action will not destroy the organization of
>>>>   >terrorist cells already established throughout the
>>>>   >world. Of greater importance, it will do nothing to
>>>>   >alleviate the residual enmity against America that will
>>>>   >remain at large in the world, continuing to motivate
>>>>   >violence. The perpetrators of the original attack on
>>>>   >the World Trade Center in 1993 were caught and
>>>>   >convicted. This did not stop the attack on Tuesday.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >The chief suspect is the Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden
>>>>   >or his surrogates. He has been mischaracterized as an
>>>>   >anti-American terrorist. He should rather be thought of
>>>>   >as someone who would do anything to protect Islam. Bin
>>>>   >Laden began his career fighting the Soviet occupation
>>>>   >of Afghanistan in 1979 when he was 22 years old. He has
>>>>   >not only resisted the Soviets but also the Serbians in
>>>>   >Yugoslavia. His anger was directed against the United
>>>>   >States primarily because of the U.S. presence in the
>>>>   >Gulf Regionmore particularly Saudi Arabia itselfthe
>>>>   >site of the most sacred Islamic religious sites.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >According to bin Laden, during the Gulf War America
>>>>   >co-opted the rulers of Saudi Arabia to establish a
>>>>   >military presence in order to kill Muslims in Iraq. In
>>>>   >a religious decree issued in 1998, he gave religious
>>>>   >legitimacy to attacks on Americans in order to stop the
>>>>   >United States from "occupying the lands of Islam in the
>>>>   >holiest of places." His decree also extends to
>>>>   >Jerusalem, where the second most sacred Muslim sitethe
>>>>   >al-Aqsa Mosque. The depth of his historical vision is
>>>>   >clear when, in his decree, he characterizes Americans
>>>>   >as "crusaders" harkening back to the Medieval Crusades
>>>>   >in which the Holy Lands, then occupied by Muslims, were
>>>>   >captured by European Christians.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >He will not cease his opposition until the United
>>>>   >States leaves the region. Paradoxically, his strategy
>>>>   >for convincing the United States to do so seems drawn
>>>>   >from the American foreign policy playbook. When the
>>>>   >United States disapproves of the behavior of another
>>>>   >nation, it "turns up the heat" on that nation through
>>>>   >embargoes, economic sanctions or withdrawal of
>>>>   >diplomatic representation. In the case of Iraq
>>>>   >following the Gulf war, America employed military
>>>>   >action, resulting in the loss of civilian life. The
>>>>   >State Department has theorized that if the people of a
>>>>   >rogue nation experience enough suffering, they will
>>>>   >overthrow their rulers, or compel them to adopt more
>>>>   >sensible behavior. The terrorist actions in New York
>>>>   >and Washington are a clear and ironic implementation of
>>>>   >this strategy against the United States.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >Bin Laden takes no credit for actions emanating from
>>>>   >his training camps in Afghanistan. He has no desire for
>>>>   >self-aggrandizement. A true ideologue, he believes that
>  >>>  >his mission is sacred, and he wants only to see clear
>>>>   >results. For this reason, the structure of his
>>>>   >organization is essentially tribalcellular in modern
>>>>   >political terms. His followers are as fervent and
>>>>   >intense in their belief as he is. They carry out their
>>>>   >actions because they believe in the rightness of their
>>>>   >cause, not because of bin Laden's orders or approval.
>>>>   >Groups are trained in Afghanistan, and then establish
>>>>   >their own centers in places as far-flung as Canada,
>>>>   >Africa and Europe. Each cell is technologically
>>>>   >sophisticated, and may have a different set of
>>>>   >motivations for attacking the United States.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >Palestinians members of his group see Americans as
>>>>   >supporters of Israel in the current conflict between
>>>>   >the two nations. In the Palestinian view, Ariel
>>>>   >Sharon's ascendancy to leadership of Israel has
>>>>   >triggered a new era, with U.S. government officials
>>>>   >failing to pressure the Israeli government to end
>>>>   >violence against Palestinians. Palestinian cell members
>>>>   >will not cease their opposition until the United States
>>>>   >changes its relationship with the Israeli state.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >The Mujaheddin fighters in Lebanon also direct their
>>>>   >hostility against Israel and the United States. They
>>>>   >also operate against the Maronite Christian community
>>>>   >in their own country, who were supported by the French
>>>>   >from World War I until the end of World War II. They
>>>>   >will not cease their operations until the region is
>>>>   >firmly in Islamic hands.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >Above all, Americans need to remember that the rest of
>>>>   >the world has an absolute right to self-determination
>>>>   >that is as defensible as our own. A despicable act of
>>>>   >mayhem such as those committed in New York and
>>>>   >Washington is a measure of the revulsion that others
>>>>   >feel at our actions that seemingly limit those rights.
>>>>   >If we perpetuate a cycle of hate and revenge, this
>>>>   >conflict will escalate into a war that our
>>>>   >great-grandchildren will be fighting.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >________________
>>>>   >
>>>>   >William O. Beeman teaches anthropology at Brown
>>>>   >University in Providence, Rhode Island. A specialist on
>>>>   >Middle East Culture, he has written extensively on
>>>>   >fundamentalism and terrorism. He has worked for the
>>>>   >past four years in Tajikistan, where he has been able
>>>>   >to monitor developments in Afghanistan.
>>>>   >
>>>>   >Copyright 2001 William O. Beeman. This article may be
>>>>   >distributed for any non-commercial purpose.
>>>
>>

--
Camilla Flintermann, former CG for Peter 83/70/55
                     Oxford, Ohio
            <[log in to unmask]>

            on the web at   http://www.geocities.com/camillahf/index.html

                       "Ask me about the CARE list for Caregivers of Parkinsonians ! "
            And visit the CARE webring at http://www.pdcaregiver.org

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn