Abdel Bari Atwan’s first hand knowledge of Al Qaeda and its leaders has
resulted in this
book that gives an inside view of the world of militancy. It
shows Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden in an Arab perspective and also gives
some hitherto unrecorded details. Osama has openly claimed that he embarked on
his ‘
jihad’ because the West had inflicted incalculable harm on Muslims
all over the world and that his rage was triggered by the televised images of Israel’s
invasion of Lebanon in 1982. United States became the target of
his hate when it backed the Zionist state. The U.S.’s
presence in Saudi Arabia
during and after the 1991 Gulf War, the
economic sanctions imposed on Iraq that caused thousands of deaths, the oppression
of the Palestinians and the military
occupation of Iraq added to his grievances. There
can be no two opinions on the fact that on all these issues the West was
unjust. The U.S. has trashed
its own interests by carrying out the senseless invasion and occupation of Iraq. But can a
few terrorist make the superpower give up hegemony over West Asia and North Africa or control the oil wealth of these regions?
Osama was confident that his Salafi Jihad would solve this
existential problem. The author Atwan makes it plain right in the beginning
that the book is not trying to justify the jihad’s project but merely setting
out all its aspects including the motivation factors at play. He had visited
the Al Quaeda leader in the Tora Bora
caves in 1996 and found him to be polite,
austere, dedicated and even amicable. This was the same Osama who also propagated
killing on a large scale and has never put himself or any of his numerous sons
in the forefront of martyrdom operations.
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