What a bunch of CRAP!  Bin Laden is not following the Islamic principles.
He has formed a radical, perverted offshoot that the true followers of Islam
detest.

Greg
48/35/35


----- Original Message -----
From: Camilla Flintermann <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 1:30 PM
Subject: Fwd: "Understanding bin Laden"


> 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
>
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