Anyway, from the commentary above, which is a small sampling of a mass of similar analysis, one could easily assume that Osama bin Laden is only an aberrant flash in the pan. Today, after all, a person who decides to make himself a megacelebrity begins by saying or doing something splashy and exploits modern communication technologies to broadcast those words or deeds far and wide. The fifteen minutes of Warholian fame are not hard to come by. To secure such fame, declaring war on the United States and destroying two U.S. embassies would certainly do for starters. And bin Laden has made sure his message has been widely disseminated by hosting in Afghanistan Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor in chief Abd-al-Bari Atwan; numerous pro-Islamist Pakistani reporters; Western journalists, like Peter Arnett, Peter Bergen, and Robert Fisk, who oppose U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim world; and correspondents from such major networks as ABC, CNN, and Al-Jazirah, the latter a Qatar-based, Arabic-version of CNN.
Bin Laden’s deftness with reporters has led some commentators to conclude that he is mainly a vacuous media manipulator, not unlike many major Western politicians. U.S. News & World Report led the way in this regard. Before the East Africa bombings, the Report reminded its readers, bin Laden’s “group was almost unknown in the West. Since then … al-Qaidah is said to be flush with cash and to control operatives in two dozen countries who have had a hand in everything from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to an attempt to kill the pope,”10 On the same tack, an unnamed London-based security consultant told The Observer, “I just don’t think a guy in a cave in Afghanistan can send off e-mails over a satellite phone ordering mass destruction anywhere in the world. Real life is not like James Bond movies. It is just not that easy to hold the world ransom.”11 In October 1998, the Washington Post added to the chorus by noting “that some critics have questioned the image of Bin Ladin as a master puppeteer with marionettes distributed around the world.”12 The Post quoted a counterterrorism expert as saying that “Bin Ladin’s a pretty ambitious guy, but there is a danger in making him look like the Soviet military at the height of its power.”13
Standing by his lonesome amid the media’s rush to find an easy and—in terms of contemporary Western culture—understandable and politically acceptable answer, Professor Magnus Ranstorp in the Journal of Conflict and Terrorism notes that bin Laden is both a substantive leader and knowledgeable about the media’s power.14 Bin Laden’s decision to send statements to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Ranstorp argues, “is a calculated decision to maximize both [sic] the distribution of his message among broader segments of the Muslim community, as London is positioned as the unrivaled worldwide distribution node because of the presence and publishing activities of various Islamic movements.” In his use of propaganda, bin Laden has taken a lesson from Islamic history and the medieval Muslim leaders who fought the Crusaders. Amin Malouf, for example, has written that the Muslim military leader Nur-al-Din “understood the invaluable role of psychological mobilization, and therefore built a genuine propaganda apparatus … with the mission of winning the active sympathy of the people and thereby forcing the leaders of the Arab world to flock to his banner.”
Bin Laden’s media behavior mirrors Nur-al-Din’s and, as Issam Darraz suggested nearly a decade ago, the Saudi had learned the lesson that in addition to “intensive military training [for Islamic youths] … there is a need for the psychological and spiritual mobilization of young individuals who are joining the Muslim struggle.” To date, bin Laden has beaten the West hands down in the contest for the hearts and minds of young Muslims. This does not mean all Muslims agree with and support bin Laden, but it is to say that his views are gaining ground in the Islamic world, and America’s efforts to defame him are either falling on deaf ears or counterproductive. If U.S. policy makers want to understand bin Laden’s heroic stature in the Muslim world, says Professor Eshan Ahari of the U.S. Joint Forces Staff College, they need only take a “stroll through the bazaars in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar, where bin Laden’s picture is prominently displayed as the ‘great mujahid’ (religious fighter).”15
Sadly, Manstorp and Ahari are spitting into the wind. The West has judged bin Laden a nut cake, a charter member of the Muslim lunatic fringe, and a master media manipulator who has parlayed that talent into international celebrity. On the surface, it is hard to argue with these authorities, most of whom have covered Islamic insurgencies, interviewed bin Laden, or gone into combat with Arab Afghans. Still, much Western commentary is trite, amounts to analysis by assertion, and is underpinned by the Western elites’ determination to denigrate as deviant or fanatical any individual or group that demands God’s word be the basis for how life is lived. Though an uncomfortable fact, the bin Laden that emerges from a thorough review of the pertinent literature is more the Islamic hero and leader than the media-savvy charlatan.
Where does bin Laden’s reputation and stature come from? Does it derive from the intense media coverage of the 1998 East Africa and 2000 Aden attacks and the existence of “an Islamic world desperately short of genuine heroes”?16 Is bin Laden just another Gucci guerrilla who in the Afghan jihad was, a former senior U.S. intelligence officer claims, “more of a fund-raiser and organizer than a fighter”? Or is he, as argued by Pakistani journalist Raziud Din Sayed, “the symbol of the Islamic ideal of life. He is the continuity of the revealed idea of holy war. He is not a terrorist. He is a hero and a holy warrior.”17
To answer the question, the place to start is with bin Laden’s activities during the Afghans’ war against the Soviets and Afghan communists. In that war, bin Laden spent his own fortune to support the mujahedin and used his family’s connections to harvest other funds for the insurgents. He also worked tirelessly to mend rifts among Afghan factions and between other Islamist groups. Most important, bin Laden repeatedly risked his life while laboring as a combat engineer worker and fighting as an insurgent commander. That bin Laden’s military prowess and activities have been exaggerated is certain; Frontline’s biography of bin Laden claims he was in “5 major battles” and “hundreds of small operations and exchanges of fire.” This glitzy gloss, however, does not detract from the fact that his behavior in combat earned him a reputation for personal courage. “He will not show a flicker [of fear] even if a bomb exploded near him,” Frontline noted,18 and senior al Qaeda member Khalid al-Fawwaz has said bin Laden is “a very brave man.”19 Perhaps the best testimony to the legitimacy of bin Laden’s combat record is that it only has been challenged by U.S. and Western “experts” and not by Afghans who fought alongside him or know his record.20
Bin Laden’s personality also fits the heroic model in Islamic history, one which is not prone to making heroes of men who are brazen, boisterous, boastful, and notoriety seeking. Nur-al-Din and Saladin, the two greatest Muslim military leaders during the era of the Crusades, have been described, respectively, as “a pious, reserved and just man, one who kept his word, and was thoroughly devoted to the jihad against the enemies of Islam,” and as a man whose greatness lay a modesty “which made him so different from the monarchs of the time; he was humble with the humble, even after he became the most powerful of the powerful.” Western and Muslim journalists, after interviewing bin Laden, have written descriptions substantially similar to those just quoted, showing bin Laden squarely in historic model of Islamic hero “where modesty in appearance and behavior is considered a cardinal virtue.”
On the Western side, Associated Press writers have described bin Laden as “a soft-spoken, modest but charismatic man, infused with the serenity of the deeply devout.”21 ABC’s John Miller found bin Laden “calm, fixed and steady” in the chaotic surroundings of their interview, and said that he spoke with a voice “soft and slightly high, with a raspy quality that gave it texture and the sound of an old uncle giving good advice.”22 On the Muslim side, Frontline’s unattributed biography says bin Laden has a “dominating personality” despite being shy, and that “he speaks very little and looks serious most of the time. He would appear with a soft smile but w
ould seldom laugh. His followers see a lot of aura on him and show him great voluntary respect.”23 A senior Algerian Islamist has recalled that during the Afghan jihad bin Laden “ate very little. Slept very little. [He was] Very generous. He’d give you his clothes. He’d give you his money…. When you sit with Usama, you don’t want to leave the meeting. You wish to continue talking to him because he is very calm, very fluent.” Bin Laden also is renowned for his eagerness to share the common lot and common danger; when with his fighters bin Laden “very frequently cooks with them and serves them … [he] is always anxious to embrace death. His innocent children are Mujahid.”
As a point of comparison for Americans, the admiration and affection of al Qaeda fighters for bin Laden is reminiscent of the esteem the soldiers of William T. Sherman held for their commander. “His men loved him [Sherman] for the informality of his leadership and his refusal to stand on ceremony,” Stephen E. Bower has written.
His clothing was as informal as the rest of him. At times it was easy to mistake him for the private he would just as soon talk with as one of his officers. He commanded one of the most powerful armies in the world, but he became “Uncle Billy” to many of his soldiers. [Just as bin Laden is known to his men as “Abu Abdallah.”] He was one of the boys who just happened to be in charge. He made few attempts to cut himself out of the crowd, and he seemed to use his authority only when it mattered most, and when it best served the interest of his men, his armies, and their appointed mission. His common manner and his deference to the egalitarian nature of his armies endeared him to all his soldiers. [Just as bin Laden’s behavior is congruent with the intensely egalitarian nature of Islam.] His men admired him for his and their success, but also because he did not break his connection with them and flaunt it. It was a part of Sherman that enabled him to command, as he put it, “the souls of his men, as well as their bodies and legs.” … What his men saw in him, was what he saw in them, enforcing at all times the notion that his soldiers were Americans rather than citizens of particular states or regions of the country. [Just as bin Laden tells his fighters that they are all members of a single Islamic nation, not simply Saudis, Afghans, Filipinos, etc.]24
Bin Laden’s humility is often displayed in downplaying his personal part in the Afghan jihad. “Yes I fought there,” bin Laden told Robert Fisk in late 1993, “but my fellow Muslims did much more than I. Many of them died and I am still alive.” And the Egyptian journalist Issam Darraz has written that during the jihad he pursued bin Laden “for a full year from Peshawar to the battle fronts to make him talk. He assured me he was convinced of the importance of the media in serving Islamic causes. But he was not convinced of talking about his role or his jihad.”
Saudi dissident Sa’d al-Faqih and Al-Quds Al-Arabi’s Abd-al-Bari Atwan also have produced similar portraits of bin Laden’s personality.
al-Faqih: “Well in his desert life, he’s very humble. And people who work with him or live with him like him a lot. Because he is having the two characters [sic—characteristics?] for people to be liked. The charisma, the aura on the one side. And also the humbleness and being simple and being generous and soft on the other side…. [T]he people who have lived with him very closely, they told me that you are taken by his personality. And you are forced to have a strong affection toward him. And respect.”25
Atwan: “I found him to be a man who is very modest in nature. He believes in every word he says. He does not lie, he does not exaggerate. He does not complement anyone. He does not even try to hide anything. He expresses everything he feels. He is very enigmatic. His voice is calm and well-mannered. I spent a whole day with him and truly sensed his charm, his refined manners, and his true modesty, not exaggerated or with fake modesty.”26
Also within the model of Islamic hero is bin Laden’s aggressive and confrontational approach on the issue of overriding importance to most Muslims, namely, Islam. Just as there are mantras Westerners repeat about the Islamic world, the primary mantra repeated to Western audiences by Muslims is that Islam is a religion that informs and shapes all aspects of the believer’s life: personal, marital, familial, social, and religious, as well as in the realms of domestic politics, military affairs, and international relations. God’s words and the Prophet’s sayings and traditions, Christendom is told, guide and govern a Muslim’s life. “We [Muslims] are a nation and have a long history,” bin Laden told CNN’s Peter Arnett in May 1997. “We are now in the 15th century of this great religion, the complete and comprehensive methodology have [sic—has?] clarified the dealing between an individual and another, the duties of the believer toward God, and the relationship between the Muslim country and other countries in time of peace and in time of war.”27
While bin Laden’s version of the mantra may not apply to all Muslims—many rich Gulf Arabs appear exceptions—the words do seem valid in regard to the Islamic world’s working poor; that is, most of the world’s Muslims. Bin Laden’s Muslim interviewers have found him mesmerizing on this issue. Pakistani journalist Qari Hashimi, for example, said “his [bin Laden’s] love for Islam, his grief over the decline of the Muslim Ummah, his love for Muslim sacred places, and his hatred for Jews and Christians are exceptional.”28 In late 1998, a correspondent from Karachi’s Newsline also saw bin Laden’s confrontational demeanor. The daily reported that bin Laden displayed “deep emotion whenever he mentioned the names of Islam’s holy places [which are] currently under ‘American and Israeli occupation’.”29 In these words, the interviewer wrote, “one could feel the zeal and the strength emanating from the man.”30 Pakistan’s News also described the “choked voice” in which bin Laden excoriated the West for stationing “infidel” soldiers on the Arabian Peninsula.31 “This is the first time,” bin Laden said, “after prophet hood was bestowed on our Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) that infidels are in control of this holy land.”32
It is one thing to assert bin Laden is respected and supported by large numbers of the world’s Muslims, but it is quite another to prove that statement, much less to quantify it. Since there are few reliable polls in the Islamic world, and occasions for exit polling are rare, reliance must be placed mainly on anecdotal evidence and the testimony of those who have met, interviewed, fought alongside, or studied bin Laden.
The less-than-scientific data shows that the shy, gracious, quiet, and yet religiously confrontational bin Laden, who has fought, suffered, and spent in God’s way, is increasingly seen as a Muslim leader and hero. After the August 1998 U.S. retaliatory attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan, for example, protestors in Palestine called bin Laden “the beloved of God”; in Pakistan, “Usama the lion”; and in Afghanistan, “the soldier of Islam.”33 On the same line, Abd-al-Bari Atwan said that after his interview of bin Laden was published “he received calls from countless young men from the Middle East, Europe, and America wanting to know how they could find bin Laden to join his fighters.”34 A similar vote of confidence in bin Laden occurred in terms of donations. In July 1999, the Associated Press reported bin Laden “received millions of dollars from Saudi and Gulf businessmen to reinvigo-rate his campaign against the United States.”35 AP’s sources said the donations came from “devout Muslims” after Washington offered a $5 million reward for bin Laden and may have totaled $50 million.36
There are also telling anecdotes on what might be called the more homey side of the stature-of-bin-Laden ledger. In Pakistan’s oldest and largest religious school, for example, “a poster of Mr. Bin Laden hangs…. He is smiling, holding an automatic rifle. The poster calls him a holy warrior.”37 The school’s headmaster explains that “Usama is a hero. Every young man wants to be like him.” In addition, Pakistan’s most famous actress has announced that she is making a film that will star her son—the country’s current Errol Flynn—and “highlight the achievements of that famous hero of Islam, Usama Bin Ladin. The entire world will see Usama’s character presented realistically and will see the facts in their true light … the film will give a full response
to the propaganda against him.38
Elsewhere in Pakistan, the media have reported that each day “hundreds of couples” give their male babies the first name “Usama.”39 Bin Laden is said to be pleased by this practice but “modestly adds that they are not doing it for me but to honor of Osama bin Zaid, the Prophet’s companion,”40 adding that “martyrdom is my passion because my martyrdom would lead to the birth of thousands of Usamas.”41 The Pakistani media also reports that people have “displayed his [bin Laden’s] picture at their shops, and drivers have put his pictures in the back of his vehicles.” Photographers, too, are selling thousands of his pictures, vehicles are often labeled “Usama’s express,” vendors are selling T-shirts emblazoned with his photo like “hot cakes,” and new businesses frequently make use of his name, as in the “Usama Poultry Farm” in Chakadara, the “Usama Medical Store” in Swat, and the “Usama Bakers” in Uch.42 Popular support for bin Laden has been seen in Afghanistan. In summer 1999, Pakistan’s News reported tribal elders near Jalalabad openly backed the Saudi, claiming “Bin Ladin had earned the enmity of all infidels on account of his strong Islamic beliefs,” and asserting “no sacrifice would be big enough in an effort to protect Usama Bin Ladin and even Afghan girls would do so in case of need.”
More recently, John F. Burns, in an excellent series of analytic articles from Yemen in the New York Times, found surging support for bin Laden after al Qaeda attacked the U.S. destroyer Cole. The attack yielded, Burns wrote, “a ground swell of backing, especially among the young, for Mr. Bin Ladin. His name is scrawled on walls and plastered on magazine covers; tapes of his speeches sell in the bazaars, making him an icon Arab leaders cannot ignore.” Similar post-Cole events occurred in Pakistan where counterfeited Nike T-shirts bearing bin Laden’s photograph and the phrase “The Great Mujahid of Islam” appeared on shop shelves alongside calendars labeled “Look Out America, Usama Is Coming.”43
Through Our Enemies' Eyes Page 44