Bin Laden's Last Stand

Abstract

In last several months, U.S. administration has aimed its most extreme rhetoric person of Osama bin Laden. In his public statements, President George Bush has routinely referred to bin Laden as the Evil and the Evildoer, and he has used phrases like wanted dead or alive and we'll smoke him out of his hole to indicate administration's resolve in bringing bin Laden to justice. The rhetorical excess evidenced in statements about bin Laden stands in marked contrast to restraint administration has exercised in relation to Afghan people, Muslims and Islamic religion in general, for all of which White House has gone out of its way to signal its respect. While administration has been trying to isolate bin Laden rhetorically, we also hear reports that al Qaeda leader is viewed very differently by many in Middle East and South Asia. We can't speak in terms of percentages, but news reports make it clear that many see bin Laden as a hero on horseback, intent on righting wrongs committed against Muslim people. It is uncertain if those who demonstrate on street in support of bin Laden know much about his political views or would be pleased to live in an Islamic state of sort Taliban established in Afghanistan, but that doesn't really seem to matter. At a time of general discontent with political and economic situation in Middle East, bin Laden offers image of someone who stands up for his beliefs and is incorruptible and unblinking before those in power. One dimension of rhetorical divide between how bin Laden is perceived in Muslim world and in United States concerns manner in which his demise might come to be understood in Muslim world. In this regard, recollecting an event from an earlier era might be instructive because of parallels it shares with America's pursuit of Osama bin Laden in mountains of Afghanistan. The earlier episode took place in summer of 1897 on frontier between what was then called India and Afghanistan.1 An Afghan religious leader known as Mulla of Hadda organized Pakhtun tribal people of border area to join a jihad whose goal was to force British out of India. For several months, British came under tremendous pressure, as garrisons up and down frontier were placed under attack. These assaults awoke in British minds memories of so-called Mutiny of 1857 when hundreds of British had been killed, and newspaper commentators of time spread fear that jihad would spread like a contagion, affecting an ever wider circle of Muslims in India, including native regiments, who would be inspired to join in general insurrection. One of those who recognized seriousness of situation was young Winston Churchill, who finagled a job as a stringer with a London newspaper so he could accompany British expeditionary force sent out to deal with Mulla of Hadda and his allies. For Churchill, this was not simply a local uprising. It was, for him, as conflict with bin Laden is for many in this country, a clash between civilization and barbarism. Great Britain was, in Churchill's words, pursuing a course marked out ... by an all-wise hand ... of bearing civilization and good government to uttermost ends of earth.2 The Mulla of Hadda, or the Mad Mulla, as he was often referred to in press, represented forces of superstition, intent on keeping people of India cloaked in darkness. The Mulla of Hadda did not have access to al Jazeera satellite television to spread his message, but he did have services of religious students, known as taliban who, according to one pair of contemporary British commentators, were at bottom of all mischief in country, instigators and often perpetrators of bulk of crime. They use their religious status to live free on people, who are too superstitious to turn them out, even when they destroy peace of family circle. …