OTHER VIEWS
Don't Discount Bin Laden's Popularity
Philadelphia
11 suicide operations admits he is
sk Westerners and you'll
completely isolated.
hear how marginal Osama
American officials are still waiting
bin Laden is. President
for Muslim politicians to speak up.
George W. Bush says he
"It'd be nice if some leaders came out
represents a "fringe form of Islamic
and said that the idea the U.S. is tar-
extremism ... rejected by Muslim
geting Islam is absurd," notes one
scholars and the vast majority of
U.S. diplomat.
Muslim clerics."
They do not because the
American specialists on
Muslim world is bursting
Islam agree. "Osama bin
with adulation for the Saudi
Laden is to Islam like
militant. "Long live bin
Timothy McVeigh is to
Laden," shout 5,000
Christianity," says Mark
demonstrators in the south-
Juergensmeyer of the
ern Philippines. In Pakistan,
University of California,
bin Laden's face sells mer-
referring to the Oklahoma
chandise, massive street ral-
City bomber.
lies have left two persons
Karen Armstrong, author
dead and 10,000 march in
DAN IEL PIPES the capitals of Bangladesh
of a best-selling book about
Special
Islam, reports that the "vast
and Indonesia.
Corn mentary
majority of Muslims ... are
In northern Nigeria, Bin
horrified by the atrocity of
Laden has (according to
Sept. 11."
Reuters) "achieved iconic status"; his
Well, that "vast majority" is well
partisans set off religious riots leading
hidden and awfully quiet, if it even
to 200 deaths. Pro-bin Laden demon-
exists. With the exception of one gov-
strations took place even in Mecca,
ernment-staged, anti-bin Laden
where overt political activism is
.
demonstration in Pakistan, and very
unheard of
few prominent Islamic scholars, hard-
ly anyone publicly denounces him.
Breadth • Of Support
The only Islamic scholar in Egypt
who unreservedly condemns the Sept.
Everywhere, the Washington Post
reports, Muslims cheer bin Laden on
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle
"with almost a single voice." The
East Forum. His e-mail address is
Internet buzzes with odes to him as a
pipes@MEForum.org
man "of solid faith and power of
A
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STEINBERG from page 33
The most important factors feed-
ing hatred of the West and support
for bin Laden can be found in more
banal political and socioeconomic
conditions. Most of the Islamic
world is ruled by a small corrupt
elite, which has plundered the econ-
omy and used brutality to suppress
their own citizens. The masses are
condemned to lives of abject poverty
with no hope for the future. They
contrast their lives with images of
plenty and freedom in the West, as
seen on television and in advertise-
ments, creating the jealousy that
fuels support for terror.
xisr
10/26
2001
34
Professor Gerald M. Steinberg is
director, Program on Conflict
Management and Negotiation Political
Studies, Bar-Ilan University. His e-mail
address is gerald@vms.huji.ac.il
Ruling By Repression
Saddam Hussein may have reached
new levels of cruelty against the
Iraqi people, but his "leadership
style," based on murder, torture and
intimidation, is not fundamentally
different from that of Hafez (and
now Bashar) al-Assad in Syria, the
Taliban rulers in Afghanistan or
Arafat's corrupt dictatorship in the
Palestinian Authority.
In Egypt and Pakistan, the mili-
tary and economic elites have used
repression to preserve their power
and destroy potential rivals, while
enriching themselves by maintaining
a failed economic system that keeps
most of the population very poor
and filled with anger and resent-
ment.
Many years ago, first Europe and
then the U.S. accepted this danger-
ous situation by supporting the cor-
rupt, but generally pro-Western,
dictatorships and monarchies. In the
will." A Saudi explains, "Osama is a
very, very, very, very good Muslim." A
Kenyan adds: "Every Muslim is
Osama bin Laden." "Osama is not an
individual, but a name of a holy war,"
reads a banner in Kashmir.
In perhaps the most extravagant
statement, one Pakistani declared,
"Bin Laden is Islam. He represents
Islam." In France, Muslim youths
chant bin Laden's name as they throw
rocks at non-Muslims.
Palestinians are especially enam-
oured. According to Hussam Khadir,
a member of Palestinian Authority
leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, "Bin
Laden today is the most popular fig-
ure in the West Bank and Gaza, sec-
ond only to Arafat." A 10-year-old
girl announces that she loves him like
a father. Nor is she alone.
"Everybody loves Osama bin Laden
at this time. He is the most righteous
man in the whole world," declares a
Palestinian woman. A Palestinian
Authority policeman calls him "the
greatest man in the world ... our
Messiah" even as he (reluctantly) dis-
perses students who march in solidari-
ty with the Saudi.
Survey research helps understand
these sentiments. In the Palestinian
Authority, a Bir Zeit poll found that
26 percent of Palestinians consider the
Sept. 11 attacks consistent with
Islamic law. In Pakistan, a Gallup
found a nearly identical 24 percent
reaching this conclusion.
Even those who consider the attacks
on Sept. 11 an act of terrorism (64
percent of both Palestinians and
Pakistanis) show respect for these as
acts of political defiance and technical
prowess. "Of course, we're upset that
so many died in New York. But at the
same time, we're in awe of what hap-
pened," said a young woman from
Cairo.
An online survey of Indonesians
found 50 percent seeing bin Laden as
a "justice fighter" and 35 percent a
terrorist. More broadly, I estimate that
bin Laden enjoys the emotional sup-
port of half the Muslim world.
That America's politicians and
experts on Islam insist on seeing bin
Laden as an isolated McVeigh-like fig-
ure is worrisome; they miss the danger
that bin Laden's militant Islam poses
to existing governments — perhaps
their greatest challenge of recent
times. Their fear of him goes far to
explain why the authorities so heavily
discourage pro-bin Laden sentiments
(forbidding posters of him, arresting
militant Islamic leaders, blocking
street gatherings, closing schools and
universities, patrolling streets with
loaded machine guns, and even shoot-
ing demonstrators).
The wide and deep Muslim enthusi-
asm for bin Laden is an extremely
important development that needs to
be understood, not ignored. ❑
major oil exporting countries, such
as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran
(during the reign of the Shah), these
policies were seen not only as a way
of insuring access to petroleum, but
also as a means of controlling prices.
In addition, Egypt and Pakistan
were useful allies in the Cold War.
The U.S. provided the military elite
in these countries with plenty of
weapons and money, while keeping
away from involvement in "domestic
issues."
As a result, as resentment against
these extremely repressive and cor-
rupt governments increased, the
hostility directed at America and the
West also mounted. With all other
forms of dissent and protest barred,
radical Islam became the only alter-
native. Among Palestinians, Hamas
gained support by providing basic
social services and a sense of partici-
pation that challenged Arafat's dicta-
torship.
Bin Laden began his career as a
terrorist and gained a following by
challenging the corrupt Saudi
monarchy. Later, he joined with rad-
ical Islamic forces seeking to over-
throw the Egyptian government,
and then spread his influence across
the Middle East.
In the short term, in order to
defeat the forces of radical Islam,
the U.S. and the West may have lit-
tle choice but to work and continue
support for the corrupt and closed
regimes in countries like Saudi
Arabia and Egypt.
However, in the longer term,
these policies that contradict the
most basic principles of Western
democracy must change, and the
forces of freedom and hope that
exist in all human societies must be
released. This is the best way to end
the scourge of terrorism and the
support it receives in the Islamic
world. ❑