by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n
Private Papers<\/em><\/p>\n F<\/span>ull of the same old complaints, threats of retaliation, and victim status role that have become mainstays of al Qaeda propaganda, Osama bin Laden\u2019s latest release would seem to offer nothing new. It dwells on the many \u201ccrimes\u201d the West insists on visiting upon the Muslim world, simply because \u201ctheir only sin is that they are Muslim.\u201d It, once again, tries to justify the 9\/11 strikes as acts of \u201creciprocation, and it again informs the West that it has \u201cno religion, morals, humanity or shame.\u201d When analyzed properly, however, this audio-taped communiqu\u00e9 also contains something of an encouraging revelation.<\/p>\n It first bears mentioning that this last message \u2014 like all of bin Laden\u2019s missives directed at the West \u2014 contains his duplicitous opening and closing sentence, \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance.\u201d Constant usage of this simple statement exemplifies bin Laden\u2019s ever shifting duality well, his unique ability to simultaneously touch upon the sentiments of two diametrically opposed audiences through one selfsame sentence. On the one hand, he evokes the word \u201cpeace,\u201d which he knows the West will assume can be achieved should they follow his supposed \u201cguidance\u201d (i.e., leaving the Islamic world alone). On the other hand, it is the same exact sentence that the Muslim prophet Muhammad always initiated his messages with when addressing the (mostly Christian) kings and rulers of the non-Muslim nations around Arabia.<\/p>\n Master manipulator bin Laden, however, wisely leaves out his prophet\u2019s follow-up sentence, which makes clear that the peace and guidance that Islam offers infidels has little to do with the notion of \u201clive and let live.\u201d Said Muhammad: \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance.\u00a0 To the point, submit [to Islam] and have peace.\u201d So while the West assumes it\u2019s being offered an olive-branch, many Muslims the world over see in bin Laden only a bold and pious Muslim walking, quite literally, even in speech, in their prophet\u2019s path \u2014 his \u201cSunna,\u201d which all faithful Muslims must emulate.<\/p>\n The two particular Western crimes occasioning this last message are 1) that the occupation of Afghanistan is a terrible travesty, since, according to bin Laden, \u201cnone\u201d of the Afghani people had anything to do with 9\/11; and 2) that, while occupying Afghanistan, the Western powers have \u201cnot observed the ethics and protocol of warfare. Most of your victims \u2014 as a result of the bombing \u2014 are women and children, and intentionally so.\u201d<\/p>\n As to bin Laden\u2019s second point \u2014 that the West does not observe \u201cthe ethics and protocol of warfare\u201d \u2014 this is amazing coming from the man who often boasts of orchestrating the 9\/11 attacks, which killed thousands of innocents, including women and children. It is even more astounding to anyone acquainted with al Qaeda\u2019s legalistic writings and treatises. In these writings, al Qaeda goes to great lengths to justify the killing of women and children; and they do a good job \u2014 all while, unfortunately, \u00a0relying on the strict guidelines of Islamic jurisprudence. Aymin Zawahiri, often described as the \u201cbrains\u201d behind bin Laden, has even produced a lengthy theological treatise (\u201cJihad, Martyrdom, and the Killing of Innocents\u201d) dedicated in part to justifying the killing of women and children, so long as doing so empowers Islam.<\/p>\n More revealing is the fact that Muhammad himself is on record justifying the killing of women and children during the jihad. When a concerned Muslim questioned the legality of setting fire to the fortifications of the infidels at night, fearing that women and children might also perish, Muhammad assured him that \u201cthey [women and children] are from among them [infidels].\u201d Moreover, Muhammad permitted the use of catapults \u2014 which do not differentiate women and children from males \u2014 in his siege of the town of Ta\u2019if (setting a precedent for the indiscriminate use of WMDs). The inhabitants of Ta\u2019if\u2019s only crime was that they refused to submit to Islam \u2014 that they refused to make \u201cpeace\u201d with Muhammad by adhering to his \u201cguidance.\u201d<\/p>\n As for bin Laden\u2019s main gripe (this time around), since when has the occupation of Afghanistan been at the center of the West\u2019s many crimes against Islam, requiring its very own communiqu\u00e9? Here is where bin Laden belies his own precarious situation, revealing that the war in Afghanistan is not for naught. Usually, when Muslims, including al Qaeda, evoke the West\u2019s worst \u201ccrimes\u201d vis-\u00e0-vis Islam, they point to Palestine and Iraq, the former considered the third holiest site in Islam, the latter a major oil producer, and home to the last Arab caliphate, Baghdad being the historic \u201cseat of the caliphate,\u201d as bin Laden often observes. Both are much more critical occupations in comparison to Afghanistan, from religious, symbolic, and strategic points of view.<\/p>\n W<\/span>hy, then, would bin Laden take it upon himself to release a special message about the relatively quiet situation in Afghanistan (\u201cquiet\u201d in comparison to the daily bloody headlines of Iraq and Palestine)? Obviously because it affects him, directly. In comparison to the Palestinian situation and the Iraqi occupation, non-Arab Afghanistan, situated on the periphery of the Islamic world, is hardly a rallying point for Muslims.\u00a0 This message would therefore seem to indicate that: 1) bin Laden or at least a significant portion of the al Qaeda infrastructure is, in fact, still hiding somewhere in the badlands of Afghanistan; 2) Their position is becoming increasingly precarious most likely due to the military inroads made by the allied Western forces, and from disaffected Afghanis who are weary of sheltering the trouble-making Arabs, receiving only grief for compensation.<\/p>\n And so, despite bin Laden\u2019s \u201cconfessions\u201d \u2014 \u201cIt was I who was responsible for 9\/11, and I stress that all Afghanis, both government [Taliban] and people, had no knowledge of those events\u201d \u2014 it is clear that bin Laden, for whatever reason, is beginning to feel his own security threatened. Hence, the new message, the \u201cadvice\u201d for Europeans to withdraw their forces.<\/p>\n Further supportive of this view is the cloying encomium to the Afghani people recited by bin Laden near the end of his message: \u201cAnd for your information, the Afghani people are a courageous, defiant, zealous, honorable, and pious Muslim people who refuse humiliation and submission to invaders. Their history is replete with resolve and victories: they fought Britain in its glory days and defeated it \u2014 by the grace of Allah; they fought the Russians in their glory days and also defeated them \u2014 all grace to Allah\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n True to bin Laden\u2019s duplicitous nature, this obsequious tirade praising the steadfastness and eventual triumph of the Afghanis is meant to, not only defy the West but, more importantly, placate his hosts \u2014 a fawning attempt on bin Laden\u2019s part to magnify and ennoble the \u201ccourageous, defiant, zealous, honorable, and pious\u201d Afghanis, lest, perhaps, they eject him from their midst?<\/p>\n At any rate, if bin Laden truly cared for the plight of the Afghani people, then perhaps he should\u2019ve thought twice about bringing the wrath of the U.S. upon them when he orchestrated 9\/11 \u2014 all while, incidentally, enjoying Afghani hospitality, shelter, and logistical aid. Were bin Laden truly the \u201caltruistic\u201d Muslim he always tries to appear \u2014 \u201cIt was I who was responsible for 9\/11\u201d \u2014 he, like the Afghanis he praises, could\u2019ve also done the \u201ccourageous\u201d and \u201chonorable\u201d thing: thank them for their hospitality and quit their land, rather than remain like a parasite, proving to be Afghanistan\u2019s bane. Instead, in the weeks following the strikes of 9\/11, bin Laden dissembled his role behind the operations, and the Taliban fiercely protected him. So his supposed \u201cself-sacrificing\u201d honesty now \u2014 after his lies caused Afghanistan to be invaded \u2014 is too little too late to be of use to anyone, especially the Afghani people.<\/p>\n The ultimate lesson to be learned from al Qaeda communiqu\u00e9s, then, is that, whenever they \u201cadvise\u201d the peoples of the West against any particular course of action (\u201cor else\u201d), it is usually a sure sign that that course of action is, in fact, detrimental to al Qaeda and its goals and if anything should be further supported by the West. An obvious example is al Qaeda\u2019s constant attempts to demonize President Bush in an effort to sway U.S. public opinion against him: could there be any better proof that Bush\u2019s policies against al Qaeda are, in fact, effective? It is the U.S. president that Islamists never complain about that should be a cause for concern.<\/p>\n Such a cynical Western stance to all Islamist overtures would be justified by the fact that, to al Qaeda type Muslims, the West is damned either way. According to sharia law, nothing short of total submission to Islam can ever reconcile the West to Islam \u2014 as was foretold by the Islamic prophet. In a recently translated essay that was meant for Muslim eyes only, bin Laden makes this clear: \u201cThere are only three choices in Islam: either submit [i.e., convert to Islam], or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die. Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationship between the infidel and Muslim. Battle, animosity, and hatred \u2014 directed from the Muslim to the infidel \u2014 is the foundation of our religion.\u201d This three-fold approach to infidels is in fact well grounded in sharia law and is not a \u201cmisinterpretation\u201d on the part of al Qaeda.<\/p>\n Thus the West should be ever cognizant that the\u00a0ultimate<\/i>\u00a0requirement that can ever guarantee peace with \u201cradical\u201d Muslims is submission to Islam \u2014 not concessions to their ever morphing list of complaints. This is also why bin Laden\u2019s \u201csubtle\u201d threat concluding his message to the European nations in Afghanistan \u2014 \u201csoon they [Americans] will return to their homeland beyond the Atlantic, leaving the neighbors to settle accounts with each other\u201d \u2014 is idle. Terrorist attacks from al Qaeda type groups are totally predicated on theircapacity<\/i>\u00a0to realize them \u2014 not, as they would have the world think, the latter\u2019scompliancy<\/i>\u00a0to their political demands.<\/p>\n Raymond Ibrahim is the editor of the\u00a0Al-Qaeda Reader<\/i>, translations of religious texts and propaganda.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Full of the same old complaints, threats of retaliation, and victim status role that have become mainstays of al Qaeda propaganda, Osama bin Laden\u2019s latest release would seem to offer nothing new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[227,746],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1oW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5528,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/twisted-proverb\/","url_meta":{"origin":5390,"position":0},"title":"Twisted Proverb","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Osama bin Laden's \"Peace to whoever follows guidance\" by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Whenever Osama bin Laden addresses the West he always prefaces his message with the simple statement, \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance.\u201d What exactly is bin Laden\u2019s purpose, and what exactly are Americans and Europeans to understand by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5561,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/lying-defying-and-demoralizing\/","url_meta":{"origin":5390,"position":1},"title":"Lying, Defying and Demoralizing","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"OBL's three-fold strategy to defeat the West by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Like all of Osama bin Laden\u2019s previous messages to the West, his most recent communiqu\u00e9 contains three Ladenese trademarks \u2014 lying, defying, and demoralizing \u2014 that are always present whenever the al Qaeda chieftain addresses the West. That\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5432,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/peace-to-whoever-follows-guidance\/","url_meta":{"origin":5390,"position":2},"title":"Peace to Whoever Follows Guidance","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"More al Qaeda double talk by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online As with every message directed to the West, Osama bin Laden\u2019s most recent address begins and ends with his hallmark sentence: \u201cPeace to whoever follows guidance.\u201d What exactly are Americans and Europeans to understand by this simple statement? Considering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3075,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bin-laden-and-the-eternal-hydra-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":5390,"position":3},"title":"Bin Laden and the Eternal Hydra of War","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York As we ponder the significance of Osama bin Laden's death, it is well to reflect that Islamists are not the\u00a0cause\u00a0of hostilities; they are but\u00a0symptoms\u00a0of a much greater cause. Individually killing them off \u2014 which is nice \u2014 is like a doctor temporarily treating a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3086,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/was-osama-bin-laden-the-chicken-or-the-egg\/","url_meta":{"origin":5390,"position":4},"title":"Was Osama Bin Laden the Chicken or the Egg?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media To posit the significance of Osama bin Laden's demise, we must first decide which came first \u2014 the chicken or the egg? Quaint as it is, this question is fundamentally an inquiry into the nature of cause and effect. In our context, did Osama bin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3281,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/osama-bin-laden-man-of-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":5390,"position":5},"title":"Osama bin Laden: Man of Love?","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim MESH (Middle East Strategy at Harvard) In many ways, Michael Scheuer is the paradigmatic case of an otherwise knowledgeable and experienced Western adult who takes al Qaeda\u2019s word at face value. According to his book,\u00a0Imperial Hubris, his credentials and thus authority to speak about al Qaeda and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5392,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5390\/revisions\/5392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}