Consider Osama bin Laden’s full letter, not TikTok videos
Tom Rogan
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TikTok users are reveling in what they consider the undiscovered intellectual brilliance and moral fairness of Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America.”
Their view is too simplistic.
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First, though, it must be granted that it is idiotic simply to declare bin Laden “evil” and say that al Qaeda attacked America because he hates “freedom.” Bin Laden did attack America because of its principal interest in freedom (more on that in a moment). But a major source of recruits for al Qaeda and other Salafi-jihadist groups such as the Islamic State has been perceived grievances over U.S. foreign policy. This is a basic fact that no serious counterterrorism analyst can repudiate. Bin Laden’s letter plays to these points.
He references U.S. support for autocratic regimes in the Middle East that have not provided for their people’s freedom. As bin Laden puts it, “Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis.” The Israeli-Palestinian conflict also looms large. From bin Laden’s perspective, “The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally avenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone.”
These concerns underline why successive U.S. administrations have pressured Middle Eastern allies to expand opportunities for their people. It underlines why successive U.S. administrations have sought a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. They have done so because continued autocracy and the sustained Israeli-Palestinian conflict are major drivers of terrorist recruitment. They are major drivers at the group level (a la al Qaeda) and the inspired level (lone wolf attackers). Hence why so much Islamist terrorist propaganda centers on offering belonging (the gang mentality of “we will give you a family”) and supposed moral cause (“we have shown you injustice and now offer you a means of heroic resistance”). Yes, this recruitment targets social outcasts and losers. But it is real nonetheless.
Real, but far from sufficient.
In truth, this is only one very small part of bin Laden’s “Letter to America” and the broader, awful, Salafi-jihadist agenda. For one, bin Laden’s letter repeatedly makes clear that his interest is not in an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution but rather a purge of Jews. He writes, “The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased.” There is a distinct antisemitism at the heart of this ideology. Bin Laden explains that the Jews “now control all aspects of your life, making you their servants.” In turn, a prerequisite for compromise with al Qaeda and its cohorts is the U.S. acceptance of Israel’s elimination.
Indeed, TikTok fans appear to have missed the entire second half of bin Laden’s letter. They miss how American democracy must also be sacrificed at the altar of peace. As bin Laden puts it, “The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam … complete submission to [Salafi Islamism] and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion.” Bin Laden later rails against the U.S. Constitution, lamenting, “You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire.” The lesson here: Salafi-jihadists do not seek a consensus with democracies. They require the subjugation of democracies under Islamic law. This is a prerequisite of their abiding belief that God is fundamentally dishonored by any other state of human governance.
OK with that, TikTok?
Well, premarital sex, homosexuality, alcohol, and capitalism also need to go: Americans are informed they must “reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and trading with interest.” Each of these themes gets expansive rants from bin Laden. For what it’s worth, the al Qaeda leader also plays to the KGB-invented conspiracy theory that the United States invented HIV/AIDS.
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These various demands are not up for negotiation. As bin Laden puts it, “If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare to fight with the Islamic Nation.” This point is absolute and absolutely critical for TikTokers to understand. Salafi-jihadist groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS might have their disagreements on some matters (the measure of their brutality toward Shiite Muslims, for example). But what ultimately drives them is their belief that they are waging a holy war not just to impose global Islamic law but to do so in ordained fulfillment of God’s will. Bin Laden’s letter repeatedly emphasizes this point with references to Quranic verses. Assertions such as that of making Islam “victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists hate it … Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”
Top line: God is omnipotent and omniscient, and his will is not subject to negotiation. Reducing terrorist recruitment would be served by a two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution, fewer wars, and improved rights in the Middle East. But al Qaeda wants a lot more than American forces out of the Middle East.