In his latest audio, or Whomever’s latest audio, bin Laden (or Whomever) says that destroying Israel is “the most important issue for the Islamic nation.” He also says, “Jihad is a duty to free Palestine.”
So reports AKI in “Terrorism: ‘Palestinian issue the most important’ says Bin Laden message,” May 16.
Now, this matters, because he is couching his appeal in religious terms designed to convince Muslims worldwide that his struggle is righteous. When he speaks of the Islamic nation, singular, he is working from the assumption that Islam creates a supranational unity that transcends nationality, and has a claim to the loyalties of Muslims beyond every other loyalty. And when he uses the word “jihad,” he of course doesn’t mean an interior spiritual struggle; when he says it is a duty, he is invoking the principle, affirmed by all the schools of Islamic law, that when an Islamic land is invaded, it becomes the duty of every Muslim to aid somehow in the armed conflict to rid the land of its infidel rulers.
Thus in this new audiotape he is appealing to all Muslims to wage war against Israel as as a compulsory religious obligation.
This is, I suggest, important to understand. It helps explain why his message does have resonance among many Muslims. But the new U.S. Government guidelines about word usage insist, without a shred of evidence, that from an Islamic standpoint bin Laden is misusing the concept of jihad — and consequently they forbid American officials to use the term. This stance will also, of course, lead American officials to discount the religious aspects of Osama’s appeal to Muslims. In causing this, the new guidelines have impeded our ability to understand, and hence to counter, the enemy we face.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media, of course, willingly abets this blinkered willful ignorance. The Reuters report on this, ” Bin Laden marks Israel anniversary with combat vow,” by Lin Noueihed doesn’t mention the word “jihad” at all. Neither does the AP story, ” Osama bin Laden says Al Qaeda will continue its fight.” CNN’s story, ” Bin Laden urges Muslims to liberate Palestine,” mentions the word once, in the fourteenth paragraph of the story: “Bin Laden’s last message came on March 20, when in an audiotape he called Iraq ‘the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine.'”
Is it any wonder, with reporting like this, that so many years now after 9/11 most people still have absolutely no clue what we’re dealing with?