A Portentous Specter By J.R. Nyquist 10.09.01

[kabud]

A Portentous Specter
By J.R. Nyquist 10.09.01
http://web.archive.org/web/20020818090656/www.sierratimes.com/archive/files/oct/09/nyquist.htm
Osama bin Laden recently gave an interview to a Pakistani weekly. In
this interview he flattered the Pakistanis, saying, "Pakistan is the
hope of the Muslim world." Bin Laden then denied any involvement in
the Sept. 11 suicide attacks against New York and Washington, piously
explaining that his Islamic faith does not allow him to kill innocent
people.

Who then was behind the Sept. 11 attacks?

Bin Laden offered a few possibilities. Perhaps it was Israel, he said.
Or maybe it was Russia (wink, wink). He also suggested, with dry Arab
mockery, that India or Serbia might be responsible. Name any country
you like. Name any planet. Why not? Uttering absurdities is easy. You
open your mouth and form whatever words you like.

Last week the British released a document updating the evidence
against bin Laden. Investigators have established the following facts:
bin Laden associates knew the date of the Sept. 11 attacks in advance;
at least three of the suicide hijackers have been linked to bin
Laden's Al-Qaeda organization; the man responsible for planning the
suicide attacks is a senior associate of bin Laden.

Even Muslim Pakistan found this evidence compelling. No doubt the
evidence has mounted further, even as the Russian mob's support for
bin Laden goes unexamined; even as Chinese troops pour down the
Karakoram Highway into Afghanistan to reinforce bin Laden's Taliban
allies.

Somehow we cannot digest the Byzantine complexities of Asian politics.
We refuse to see the Russian and Chinese moves for what they are. Yet
we can digest this superstar of terrorism, this bearded wonder -- bin
Laden. He is easy to swallow. Present the evidence in terms of this
one person and our little brains can encompass the whole. The Western
audience, with its short attention span, is now ripe for large
explosions across a wide screen. The fine points of intelligence
analysis can now be swept aside. As we progress toward certainty it is
time to grow dimmer and less intelligent with each step. And besides,
the CIA doesn't want to release everything it has. It is enough to
know that we have communications intercepts. And what these show is
crystal clear: bin Laden's lieutenants giving themselves away by
revealing detailed knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist operations.
Such could only be known to planners and co-conspirators.

The British document on bin Laden's guilt also revealed that a deep
alliance exists between Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar, the
Taliban leader. It seems that both men are involved in narcotics
trafficking and money laundering. In other words, bin Laden and Omar
are gangsters. And one of the things repeated by intelligence sources
from around the world, is that bin Laden's network has been attempting
to get hold of weapons of mass destruction -- biological, chemical and
nuclear -- for many years.

Clearly, Osama bin Lauden is an irreligious person who lies with
equanimity. His declaration of war against America is famous for
bloodthirstiness. It is the raw stuff of secular hate, racism and
xenophobia. The truth is, bin Laden never had any formal religious
training. Nonetheless, he dared to issue a religious edict in February
1998 in which he stated: "The killing of Americans and their civilian
and military allies is a religious duty for each and every Muslim to
be carried out in whichever country they are found."

The ferocity of bin Laden's anti-American focus is hard to
underestimate. "If someone can kill an American soldier," he added,
"it is better than wasting his energy on other matters."

Some are saying that bin Laden has activated his "doomsday plan." Some
say he will unleash weapons of mass destruction. Others talk about his
"golden domino" strategy, in which fanatical Muslim generals take over
Pakistan as Saudi Arabia collapses in the chaos of civil war. After
all, the plan is to provoke America and thereby arouse the pride of
Islam.

As the regimes in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan tilt toward the United
States, the poor Muslims are more and more inclined to follow bin
Laden. Grim intelligence has emerged from Saudi Arabia in recent days
about bin Laden's growing popularity. How will America's Muslim allies
cope with this situation? Will they survive?

Afghanistan is a natural fortress which keeps bin Laden safe. Winter
is coming and the fortress will soon be impenetrable for many months.
The Americans will begin to feel their helplessness as bin Laden's
popularity grows around the oil fields of the Middle East.

It has been said by philosophers that a man's greatness can be
measured by the greatness of his enemies. Osama bin Laden has taken
this idea to heart. He bloats himself into a portentous specter by
opposing the world's richest country. But his path has no positive
element. No man can build a firm foundation on mere terrorism. The
logic of bin Laden's approach already foretells his doom. He will
never build a great and unified Islamic power because other
terrorists, equally mean and ambitious, would afterwards turn on him.

He who lives by terror, dies by terror.