The Beliefs of Osama bin Laden

[Zorra]

Beliefs and ideology

Osama believed that only the restoration of Sharia law would "set things right" in the Muslim world, and that alternatives such as "pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy" must be opposed.<31> This belief, in conjunction with violent jihad, has sometimes been called Qutbism after being promoted by Sayyid Qutb.<32> Osama believed that Afghanistan, under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban, was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.<33> Osama consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states,<34> the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," in an October 2002 letter.<35>

Osama's ideology included the idea that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.<36><37> Osama was anti-Semitic, and delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."<38> Shia Muslims have been listed along with "heretics, <…> America, and Israel" as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.<39>

In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs,<40> Osama opposed music on religious grounds,<41> and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.<42>

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a terrorist by scholars,<43><44> journalists from The New York Times,<45><46> the BBC,<47> and Qatari news station Al Jazeera,<48> analysts such as Peter Bergen,<49> Michael Scheuer,<50> Marc Sageman,<51> and Bruce Hoffman<52><53> and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.<54>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden

Reads like "insane, wacko religious fanatic-sociopath" to me.

[brooklynite]

1. Well, intoxicants and gambling, maybe; but USURY? Never!

[Deep13]

2. And to think I missed my chance to invite him over as a dinner guess.

Usually if I want to have a boorish, pig-headed conversation, I need to go back East to talk to my relatives.

[Zorra]

3. I suggest that you invite some members of the Westboro Baptist Church

to dinner for some similarly stimulating conversation.