Palast Looks at bin Laden

Al-Qaida's primary objective is to inspire Muslims to restore the Ummah, or pan-Islamic nation formerly known as the Caliphate. By 750 CE the Muslim world was also a political unity which stretched from present-day Pakistan in the east to the Spain in the west, and was ruled by a single individual who styled himself the successor of Muhammad. A restored ummah would unite all Middle-Eastern and North African Muslims in a political and religious unity which would control the lion's share of the world's petroleum resources, and hence control the world.

The first step in the reconstitution of the Ummah, according to bin Laden's 1996 "Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places" is to drive out the "crusaders" from the Arabina Peninsula not only because it's the cradle of Islam, but also because "(T)he presence of the world largest oil reserve makes the land of the two Holy Places an important economical power in the Islamic world."

As Greg Palast has noted in his analysis of bin Laden's "Declaration" (which appears in the first chapter of his new book, "Armed Madhouse"), "Bin Laden's causus bellum for war on America: The presence of the U.S.A. Crusader military forces on land, sea and air in the states of the Islamic Gulf is the greatest danger threatening the largest oil reserve in the world.

"Threatening Islamic oil reserves. Osama even launches a sophisticated tirade against the suppression of oil production by U.S. operators in the Gulf. This wealthy engineer knows the petroleum biz, that's for sure."

Closely following the historical record, Palast penetratingly notes that after bin Laden's successful leadership role in helping rid Afghanistan of the Soviet invaders, "Osama's next target was not The Great Satan America but The Little Satan: Iran. In Osama's view, Iranians are Shia 'dogs and lackeys' who hold, infuriatingly, OPEC's third largest oil reserves." Not only that, but the Shia are always a threat to unconditional Sunni/Arabian Peninsular domination of bin Laden's coveted pan-Islamic nation -- his ummah.

However, Palast's analysis of the "Declaration of War..." is overly cynical. While bin Laden may be guilty of a certain amount of unconscious hypocrisy, no one could read this document without concluding that his primary motivations are profoundly religious

"O you protectors of unity and guardians of Faith," bin Laden exorts his potential Mujahadeen recruits, "O you descendents of the ancestors who carried the torch of guidance and spread it all over the world. O you grandsons of...those pious companions who fought Jihad alongside them; you competed to join the army and the guard forces with the intention to carry out Jihad in the cause of Allah, raising His word and defending the faith of Islam and the land of the two Holy Places against the invaders and the occupying forces. That is the ultimate level of believing in this religion!"

Therefore, I must disagree with Greg Palast when he concludes of bin Laden, "What motivates Osama? Same thing as George and Dick. It's all about the oil." Because Persian Gulf oil is only a means for controlling the world, but what is bin Laden's purpose in wanting such control? Only that it would give a decisive advantage to those who wish to propogate what he sees as the One True Faith.