Mon 08 Oct 2001 11:35 a.m.
© 2001 National Review
Why Bin Laden Hates
The single-issue theories are wrong
Byron York
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rant on!
Why does bin Laden hate?
Despite the fact Webster's defines sociopath ==
psychopath: anyone who hates is a sociopath; anyone who
hates with violence is a psychopath. Therefore, does bin
Laden really hate? --or does he have a mission based on
his malevolent interpretation of the Koran as an excuse
to establish a religious dictatorship even more rigid
and vicious than Ayatollah Khomemi in 1979?
A psychopath destroys from lack of emotion to external
events and has a lack of reaction to averse stimuli
--eg: no startle reflex. Therefore psychopaths may be
predisposed to violence because they do not experience
emotions that would inhibit such behavior.
bin Laden is another form of a Hitler or a Stalin.
Hitler at least had a vision of providing a good life
for his people and was an unabashed technocrat; Stalin
at least tried to build a nation despite the pogroms.
bin Laden may claim to be building an Islamic utopia,
but at least 50% of the population is proscribed a less
than Dark Ages existence. bin Laden intends to turn the
clock back at least 1300 years into a single purpose
theocracy and anyone who resists is an Infidel:
Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and even moderate Muslims
and will either convert at the point of the sword or be
killed.
bin Laden supposedly has a soft, disarming voice,
appearing as a man of peace and calm --like a
psychopathic killer before he strikes. Byron York, like
others, can analyze bin Laden's demands and declare
there are finite boundaries --there are not, absolute
power corrupts absolutely and psychopathic fanatics will
never be satiated.
The professors may try to explain bin Laden's
frustrations, grievances, and objectives, and the
politicians may try to play politics, but the bottom
line in the real world is that it us or him/them --a
war not only of civilization, but also of secular power
vs. theocratic dictatorship.
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Although there are questions about its provenance and
precise translation, the statement by Osama bin Laden
that was broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera, the Arabic
television network, will be closely studied by American
experts as they search for clues to bin Laden's
motivations.
Released as American missiles and bombs began to rain
down on Afghanistan, bin Laden's statement sheds new
light on a number of issues that have been the subject
of widespread speculation in the United States. For
example, his words add new evidence to the debate over
the extent to which U.S. support for Israel was a motive
for bin Laden's September 11 terrorist attacks on New
York and Washington.
The competing arguments in the dispute can be summed up
in two headlines on the Wall Street Journal editorial
page. One, "Know Thy Enemy: Israel Isn't the Issue," was
the title of an essay by Norman Podhoretz that appeared
on September 20. The other, "They Hate Us Because They
Hate Israel," by David Gelernter, appears today. Bin
Laden's statement shows that both theories are
incomplete.
First, his words suggest that Israel plays a significant
role in his actions. In his summation, according to the
New York Times translation of his words, bin Laden says,
"I swear to God that America will not live in peace
before peace reigns in Palestine, and before all the
army of infidels depart the land of Mohammad." That
appears to place the Israeli issue on a par with the
subject of American forces in Saudi Arabia, another bin
Laden obsession.
Earlier in his statement, bin Laden says that, "Israeli
tanks rampage across Palestine, in Ramallah, Rafah and
Beit Jala and many other parts of the land of Islam, and
we do not hear anyone raising his voice or reacting."
And in a third passage, bin Laden refers to the
attackers of September 11 as Muslims who "have stood in
defense of their weak children, their brothers and
sisters in Palestine and other Muslim nations." After
this, it seems impossible to argue that Israel isn't a
major issue for bin Laden.
At the same time, bin Laden's statement makes clear he
has other obsessive grievances against the United
States. It has been widely reported that he hates the
presence of the U.S. military in his native Saudi
Arabia, home of Islam's holiest sites. His statement
about the "army of infidels" in the land of Mohammad is
echoed in another portion of his speech, in which he
says that the "wind of faith is blowing and the wind of
change is blowing to remove evil from the Peninsula of
Mohammad."
There are several other statements that allude generally
to the Gulf War and its aftermath. Bin Laden refers to
"a million innocent children are dying at this time as
we speak, killed in Iraq without guilt. We hear no
denunciation...." Later, bin Laden again refers to the
"million children," and says American did not care about
their deaths but became angry when "a few more than ten
were killed in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam," a reference
to bin Laden's 1998 terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania.
Then there is America's role in enlisting the help of
Muslim nations in the war on terrorism. "Every Muslim
after this event [should fight for their religion]," bin
Laden says. They should target "the head of
international infidels, Bush," and "those who turned
even the countries that believe in Islam against us."
Finally, bin Laden's speech also sheds some light on the
arguments made by President Bush, most eloquently in his
September 20 address to a joint session of Congress.
"They hate our freedoms," the president said. "Our
freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, or freedom
to vote and assemble and disagree with each - other."
Perhaps those factors do underlie bin Laden's thinking -
they are undoubtedly some of the things that make
Americans "infidels" - but they are not included in his
bill of particulars. Rather, bin Laden's speech suggests
that he hates America for a variety of specific
reasons. There's no single cause.
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