http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2001/issue4/jv5n4a3.htmChanges in the al-Qa’ida Message, 1992 to 2001
Through a detailed analysis of bin Ladin’s written documents and interviews, it is clear that the scope of al-Qa’ida ’s doctrine, the methods endorsed to achieve its purpose, and the popular political appeal it seeks to generate have all changed since 1992. In regard to al-Qa’ida’s target of criticism, bin Ladin started his mission with a focus on the Saudi regime and its subservience to American forces. Since then, his belligerency toward the United States has grown and his advocacy against the United States has become more prominent. At the same time, his proposed attack against the Saudi regime has become a less frequently stated priority.
In his 1996 Declaration of War that was issued after his expulsion from the Sudan, after offering praise to Allah, bin Ladin immediately launched into a global list of wrongs committed by the "Zionist-Crusaders alliance" against the Muslim people from Iraq to Palestine to Chechnya to Bosnia.(29) While the declaration was replete with graphic threats to the United States, these threats did not characterize the content of the first section of the Declaration of War. Instead, the specifics of the Saudi regime’s treachery, its compliance with the enemy, and the effect that these actions had on the Saudi people were the true emphasis of the first part of the document. Bin Ladin attacked the regime’s religious behavior and accused it of reversing the principles of Sharia, "humiliating the Umma, and disobeying Allah."(30) Such an emphasis on the Saudi regime is not as clear in later interviews and in his second fatwa, issued in February of 1998.
Throughout the Declaration of War, the belief that all power and acquisition of power can only occur through God was repeated continuously. The Saudi regime, according to bin Ladin, violated this premise through its compliance with the United States, its arrest of prominent scholars and activists, and its disregard for the reforms put forth by the July 1992 "glorious Memorandum of Advice."(31) Bin Ladin’s declaration outlined the complaints of the memorandum, which include: the intimidation of religious officials, the regime’s arbitrary departure from Sharia, the state of the press, the forfeiture of human rights, the government’s corruption, the poor state of the economy and social services, and an army that could not defend the country and which ultimately led to the American occupation.(32)
Expanding on these complaints, the declaration listed economic problems such as the depreciation of the Saudi currency, high foreign debt, and inflation. Bin Ladin accused the royal family of pursuing an oil policy that suited the American economy and not Saudis or the Gulf states. He emphasized the importance of protecting Saudi oil as it is "a great Islamic wealth and a large economic power essential for the soon to be established Islamic state."(33)
These complaints regarding internal Saudi Arabian conditions tried to appeal to popular sentiment, as they demanded an improved political, spiritual, and economic situation for the Saudi people. Moreover, bin Ladin blamed the regime as religiously failed, unjust, and labeled it "the agent" of the "American-Israeli alliance."(34) The declaration actually stated that to "use man-made law instead of the Sharia and to support the infidels against the Muslims is one of the ten ‘voiders’ that would strip a person of his Islamic status" and make him a non-believer.(35)
Based on a comparison with the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, where Abd al-Salam Faraj declared Sadat to be a non-believer,(36) bin Ladin justified similar action against the Saudi regime and its backers. With this declaration of war, he called violence against the regime and the United States in Riyadh and Khobar the "volcanic eruption emerging as a result of the severe oppression" and the suffering from "excessive iniquity, humiliation, and poverty."(37) He presented a situation in which the regime was a transgressor and he and his supporters were religious correctors.
In contrast to previous declarations, the February 23, 1998 fatwa was more global in its focus. Aside from the primary objection to the occupation of the land of the two holy places, there was no emphasis on the failures of the Saudi regime and the internal difficulties of Saudi society. The fatwa’s tone was set from one of its first lines, a citation from the Koran, "Fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them."(38) After stating the previously mentioned American crimes of the occupation of the holy places, the war on the Iraqi people, and the support of Jewish aggressions, bin Ladin asserted that the United States had declared war on God. The language of the document shifted the emphasis of responsibility to the United States for dictating policy to the Saudi regime and other local rulers.
Because of the 1998 fatwa’s exclusive focus on the United States, the 1996 Declaration of War’s detail concerning local and practical problems is interesting. The 1996 document clearly asserted the guilt of the United States in regard to creating such domestic problems, but was more critical of the Saudi regime for allowing such American influence and transgressions. While U.S. offenses were given definite attention, it seemed as if bin Ladin was more concerned with rectifying the situation in Saudi Arabia, starting with the expulsion of U.S. forces and the reform of the government in an Islamic manner.
It is possible that the Saudi regime was more of a direct threat to bin Ladin and his supporters in 1996 and that he judged religious reform there still possible or the regime’s overthrow relatively easier. The 1996 declaration perhaps also reflected his recent clashes and humiliation by the Saudi regime. Two years later, he seems to have concluded that only by striking directly at the United States could he mobilize popular support and convince Arab regimes to overlook his operations in those countries or their neighbors’ lands. This shift in emphasis between overthrowing Arab governments and prioritizing attacks on the West also had happened with earlier Arab revolutionary movements, such as the Nasserists, Ba’thists, and neo-Marxist groups.
In addition to a different focus of blame, the spectrum of targets also evolved in the period between the two "fatwas." In a March 1997 interview with CNN, bin Ladin emphasized the importance of driving Americans from all Muslim countries. When questioned about the target of the jihad, bin Ladin stated that the jihad is aimed against "soldiers in the country of the Two Holy Places," not against the "civilians in America."(39) He explained that the special nature of the holy places required American civilians to leave the country, but they were not targeted for killing.
This contrasts with both bin Ladin’s 1998 fatwa and his ABC interview in which he called for violence to punish the United States and Israel. In the February 1998 fatwa, he stated that any Muslim wishing the rewards of God must adhere to the order to "kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it."(40) The fatwa declared that:
To kill the Americans and their allies, both civil and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim who is able, in any country where this is possible, until the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Haram Mosque are freed from their grip and until their armies, shattered and broken winged, depart from all the lands of Islam.
In the 1998 ABC interview, bin Ladin reiterated the inclusion of American civilians as targets for the jihad. He stated, "We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians. They are all targets."(41) If the American "people do not wish to be harmed inside their very own countries, they should seek to elect governments that are truly representative of them that can protect their interests."(42) Bin Ladin continued, "Any American who pays taxes to his government is our target because he is helping the American war machine against the Muslim nation."(43)
Bin Ladin justified what the West called "terror" and the killing of civilians as permissible since the victims of such actions are not true victims. "Terrorizing oppressors and criminals and thieves and robbers is necessary for the safety of people and for the protection of their property."(44) In 1998, he told ABC News that Americans are "the worst thieves in the world today, and the worst terrorists."(45) Bin Ladin took issue with being called a terrorist. In the same interview, he said, they have "compromised our honor and our dignity and dare we utter a single word of protest against the injustice, we are called terrorists."
Aside from the factors mentioned above, bin Ladin’s decision to expand the scope of al-Qa’ida’s targets might also have been a response to U.S. pressure to capture him and combat his organization because of earlier attacks. It is also possible that bin Ladin wanted to sanction actions such as the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania so as not to inhibit the planning of future attacks and to encourage attacks that had a greater chance for success due to their softer nature as civilian targets.
Bin Ladin’s statements since the September 11 attacks demonstrate a further change in the al-Qa’ida message. In his October 7 message he shuffled al-Qa’ida’s priorities to maximize political appeal in the Arab and Muslim world by emphasizing the issue most likely to enhance his popular following in the Arab World, the Palestinian struggle. He also tried to capture the hearts of the Muslim world by raising new issues such as Kashmir.
In his al-Jazeera statement of October 7, bin Ladin’s first mention of political issues was to accuse, "U.S. arrogance and Jewish persecution" of humiliating the "entire nation" of Islam and committing the most "heinous actions and atrocities" of "perpetrated murders, torture, and displacement." While these were not new accusations, bin Ladin referred to the killing of the Palestinian boy Muhammad al-Durrah before any mention of such previously emphasized issues as those of U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia and military actions against Iraq.
As before, though, bin Ladin was demanding that Muslims choose between supporting al-Qa’ida--and thus taking the side of God--or being both apostates and henchmen of the West, collaborators in the murdering of Muslims. By not allowing ambiguities, he defined al-Qa’ida as the representative of Islam and America as crusaders bent on a religious war. In his November 3 statement, bin Ladin demanded that all Muslims oppose the U.S. war on Afghanistan, saying his cause was "fundamentally religious...a question of faith." He called the attacks on Afghanistan, "the most ferocious, serious, and violent Crusade campaign against Islam ever since the message was revealed to Mohammad." He dismissed the leaders of Islamic countries that supported the Western campaign as illegitimate representatives of their nations.
In the October 7 statement, bin Ladin only twice raised the issue of foreign soldiers in Saudi Arabia. The first time was more than halfway through the statement when he called on these forces to leave the Arabian Peninsula or the land "will be set on fire under their feet." He mentioned what previous statements called the greatest American transgression a second time in al-Qa’ida’s summary of demands. Considering its previous emphasis, American retreat from the Arabian Peninsula was remarkably only demanded after retreat from Afghanistan, cessation of aid to "the Jews in Palestine," and termination of sanctions on Iraqis. The call to stop helping Hindus against Muslims in Kashmir was the only issue that fell below it in the chronology of his statement. The mention of the issue of Kashmir was significant, though, as it was prioritized among the core list of demands for the first time and was meant to drive the Pakistani street against the Pakistani government. In addition, in bin Ladin’s November 3 statement, he highlighted claims of abuses inflicted upon Muslims in Bosnia, Chechnya, East Timor, the Philippines, the Sudan, and Somalia, a further indicator of his effort to win popular appeal among Muslims far beyond the Arab world alone.
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I didn't see the words 'death to America' or 'annihilate' anywhere.
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