Mon 08 Oct 2001 11:35 a.m.
© 2001 National Review
Why Bin Laden Hates
The single-issue theories are wrong
Byron York

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.


--attila

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.