Understanding Osama bin Laden
WILLIAM O. BEEMAN

THE UNITED STATES risks a severe miscalculation in dealing with the
destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon on
Tuesday.

This event is not an isolated instance of violence. This is not an "act of
war." It is one symptom of a cancer that threatens to metastasize. The root
cause is not terrorist activity, as has been widely stated. It is the
relationship between the United States and the Islamic world. Until this
central cancerous problem is treated, Americans will never be free from
fear.

Merely locating and hunting down a single "guilty party" in this case will
not stop future violence: Such an action will not destroy the organization
of terrorist cells already established throughout the world. Of greater
importance, it will do nothing to alleviate the residual enmity against
America that will remain at large in the world, continuing to motivate
violence.

The perpetrators of the first attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993,
were caught and convicted. This did not stop the attack on Tuesday.

The chief suspect is the Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden or his surrogates. He
has been mischaracterized as an anti-American terrorist. He should rather be
thought of as someone who would do anything to protect Islam.

Bin Laden began his career fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in
1979, when he was 22 years old. He has not only resisted the Soviets but
also the Serbians in Yugoslavia. His anger was directed against the United
States primarily because of the U.S. presence in the Gulf region, more
particularly in Saudi Arabia -- the site of the most sacred Islamic
religious sites.

According to bin Laden, during the Gulf War, America co-opted the rulers of
Saudi Arabia to establish a military presence in order to kill Muslims in
Iraq. In a religious decree issued in 1998, he gave religious legitimacy to
attacks on Americans in order to stop the United States from "occupying the
lands of Islam in the holiest of places." His decree also extends to
Jerusalem, home of the second most sacred Muslim site -- the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The depth of his historical vision is clear when, in his decree, he
characterizes Americans as "crusaders," harking back to the Medieval
Crusades, in which the Holy Lands, then occupied by Muslims, were captured
by European Christians.

He will not cease his opposition until the United States leaves the region.
Paradoxically, his strategy for persuading the United States to do so seems
drawn from the American foreign-policy playbook. When the United States
disapproves of the behavior of another nation, it "turns up the heat" on
that nation through embargoes, economic sanctions or withdrawal of
diplomatic representation.

In the case of Iraq following the Gulf War, America employed military
action, resulting in the loss of civilian life. The State Department has
theorized that if the people of a rogue nation experience enough suffering,
they will overthrow their rulers, or compel them to adopt more sensible
behavior. The terrorist actions in New York and Washington are a clear and
ironic implementation of this strategy against the United States.

Bin Laden takes no credit for actions emanating from his training camps in
Afghanistan. He has no desire for self-aggrandizement. A true ideologue, he
believes that his mission is sacred, and he wants only to see clear results.
For this reason, the structure of his organization is essentially
tribal-cellular in modern political terms. His followers are as fervent and
intense in their belief as he is. They carry out their actions because they
believe in the rightness of their cause, not because of bin Laden's orders
or approval.

Groups are trained in Afghanistan, and then establish their own centers in
places as far-flung as Canada, Africa and Europe. Each cell is
technologically sophisticated, and may have a different set of motivations
for attacking the United States.

Palestinian members of his group see Americans as supporters of Israel in
the current conflict between the two nations. In the Palestinian view, Ariel
Sharon's ascendancy to leadership of Israel has triggered a new era, with
U.S. government officials failing to pressure the Israeli government to end
violence against Palestinians.

Palestinian cell members will not cease their opposition until the United
States changes its relationship with the Israeli state. The Mujaheddin
fighters in Lebanon also direct their hostility against Israel and the
United States. They also operate against the Maronite Christian community in
their own country, who were supported by the French from World War I until
the end of World War II. They will not cease their operations until the
region is firmly in Islamic hands.

Above all, Americans need to remember that the rest of the world has an
absolute right to self-determination that is as defensible as our own.
Despicable acts of mayhem such as those committed in New York and Washington
are a measure of the revulsion that others feel at our actions that
seemingly limit those rights. If we perpetuate a cycle of hate and revenge,
this conflict will escalate into a war that our great-grandchildren will be
fighting.

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William O. Beeman is a professor of anthropology at Brown University. A
specialist on Mideast culture, he has written extensively on fundamentalism
and terrorism. He has worked for the past four years in Tajikistan, where he
has been able to monitor developments in Afghanistan.