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22.10.01, 23:13
October 10, 2001
Terrorism and Propaganda
Yoram Schweitzer
ICT Senior Researcher
The unholy alliance between terrorism and propaganda is not a new phenomenon.
The propaganda in the wake of a terror attack is intended to inflate the “power
image” of the perpetrators and prove their moral superiority in comparison to
their corrupted, brutal and inhuman opponents.
It is in this context that the recent interviews given by Taliban spokesmen and
by their protege Osama bin Laden should be seen. These interviews – and their
broadcast – are part and parcel of terrorism.
Bin Laden’s latest media extravaganza, broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera
satellite television station on 7 October, was another one of his “horror
shows.” In this video clip, bin Laden once more unveiled the workings of his
twisted mind, whose innermost thoughts were focused on current and future
enemies. Bin Laden attempted to explain, in an allegedly rational and moral
framework, his justification for the mass murder perpetrated by his agents in
recent years, including the attacks of September 11th.
Bin Laden reviewed the list of his enemies, all designated as “the heretics and
the infidels.” They are, naturally, the enemies of God himself, bin Laden’s
God; and bin Laden is speaking and acting on his God’s behalf.
Bin Laden, like some of his psychopathic predecessors in history, justified his
responsibility for cold-blooded murder. The slaughter of men, women, and
children in Kenya, Tanzania, and the United States, along with the atrocities
committed by his associates in Egypt, Algeria, Pakistan, and India were merely
acts of retaliation for the actions of the U.S.A. and its proxy,
Israel. “Millions of children [are] being murdered as I speak to you now in
Iraq,” he claims, while “Israeli tanks are doing bad things in Palestinian
cities.”
Bin Laden typically selects a few historical incidents, takes them out of their
context and twists their significance, and uses them as a rational and moral
pretext for his terrorist crimes. Like many culprits before him, bin Laden
loves to use the supposed suffering and death of children as a trigger for
moral outrage – an unholy misuse of a symbol of innocence for goals that are
anything but innocent. Clearly, children – much less women – do not truly
interest bin Laden or his associates. When asked about the innocent victims,
women and children alike, who were killed as a result of their terror attacks,
bin Laden and his cohorts explicitly stated that “Allah will take care of them”
and that “there are no innocents in this battle.” Bin Laden has shown this same
indifference to his own victims’ innocence even when they were Muslin women and
children.
As to his enemies, the first and the most hated among them is America, the
epitome of “heresy and hypocrisy.” The second is “The Sultanates” – that is,
the Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, et al.
The next are the “Corrupted Islamic States” like Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and
Tunisia. Syria, Iraq, and even Libya – states with regimes that are not at all
Islamic in their orientation – are spared for the time being because of their
anti-Western political stance.
It is not surprising that Israel was not mentioned at the top of his list; bin
Laden sees Israel as an outpost of the West in the Holy Land, like the medieval
Crusader Kingdoms, rather than as an independent enemy in its own right. When
he criticizes Israeli treatment of Palestinians, even the Palestinian
leadership clearly believes that bin Laden is bringing up the subject purely to
gain support, not because he really cares about their plight.
Bin Laden’s ideology as expressed in this video is consistent with his former
writings and declarations, and is based on his perception of a simple and
massive struggle between good and evil. Bin Laden describes the attacks on the
U.S. as part of an inevitable clash between two parts of mankind: “the part of
Belief without Hypocrisy versus “the part of the heresy.” He openly exposes the
superficiality of his moral viewpoint – his side of the conflict is entirely
righteous, and his adversaries are entirely corrupt.
In the video, bin Laden spells out his primary goal in initiating the
outrageous September attack on the United States. The attack was meant to
trigger a chain of events which would inevitably escalate to an all-out
confrontation between “Islam of the true believers” and “the camp of the
heretics”. Bin Laden hopes to force all Muslims in every corner of the world to
choose sides; he believes that most Muslims will ultimately come to support his
struggle.
But the great majority of the Muslims seem to know better. They may have
reservations about Western culture, and occasionally they overtly reject its
norms; but they do not believe that Islam justifies mass killings and
indiscriminate terrorism. Therefore, in spite of the mass pro-bin-Laden
demonstrations in Arab and Asian countries – demonstrations that represent a
small minority among populations of many millions in countries like Pakistan,
Indonesia, and Malaysia – the silent majority understands that nothing the West
has done justifies bin Laden’s crimes.
The global anti-terrorism coalition must be aware of the sensitivities of the
Muslim population, and the ways in which bin Laden is attempting to manipulate
the Muslim world through his Machiavellian propaganda. His “sweet talking”
arguments must be fought by exposing his lies, and his claims of Islamic
justification for terror must be exposed as blasphemy. This part of the war
against terrorism must be waged by the prominent and authoritative religious
leaders of the Muslim world.
In his latest video performance, bin Laden once again reveals himself as
someone with whom there can be no agreement and no compromise. He, his Taliban
accomplices, and his supporters must be fought vigorously until they are
removed entirely from the global political scene.
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