Bin Laden May Get What He Wants

If you type Osama bin Laden in an Internet search engine, you will find much, much more than you will ever need to know need to know about the guy.

Craig Norrell, our technical supervisor, stumbled across a fascinating article about bin Laden written this past June.

The article coincided with the sentencing of a Saudi Arabian to life in prison in connection with bomb attacks on U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Three others - a Tanzanian, a U.S. citizen and a Jordanian - also were found guilty. All said they were working for bin Laden.

The article was written for United Press International by Arnaud de Borchgrave.

The author interviewed the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar Akhund, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Afghans know Omar as the supreme leader of the faithful.

At the time, Omar told UPI that the Taliban regime would like to "resolve or dissolve" the bin Laden issue. In return, he expects the United States to establish a dialogue to work out an acceptable solution that would lead to "an easing and then lifting of U.N. sanctions that are strangling and killing the people of the Emirate."

Omar also said the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which the U.S. says bin Laden ordered, are "criminal acts and the perpetrators are criminals and should be so judged."

Of course bin Laden denies any role.

Rahmatullah Hashimi, Omar's spokesman, told UPI that bin Laden, for his part, "swore on the Koran he had nothing to do with those terrorist bombings and that he is not responsible for what others do who claim to know him. If others acted in his name, that does not make him the culprit. Moreover, the Koran forbids the taking of the lives of women, children and old people in strife, conflict and war."

Bin Laden himself has sworn allegiance to Omar in a statement published in Afghanistan in April, writing that Omar "is the ruler and legitimate amir who is ruling by the shariah of Allah."

These two were definitely members of the mutual respect and admiration society.

That's why I was a little surprised at the outcome of the meeting of the hundreds of Islamic clerics in Kabul earlier this week.

Ostensibly, their meeting was called to determine whether to hand over bin Laden to the United States.

You have to remember it is these clerics who named Omar the supreme leader. The clerics support him. His words carry great weight and he supports bin Laden.

Furthermore, Omar and the clerics fear the wrath of bin Laden's fellow extremists, not to mention their own political demise if they turn him over to the U.S.

While the clerics fell short of turning him over, they did ask him to leave Afghanistan. That really was surprising, because it was the first time the Taliban has been anything but supportive of bin Laden.

Bin Laden is the 17th of 52 children of Mohammed bin Laden, a billionaire Saudi Arabian construction magnate.

It is interesting to note that bin Laden was supported by the U.S. government a couple decades ago. My, how things have changed.

After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, bin Laden recruited freedom fighters from different Muslim countries. To do this, he worked closely with Saudi, Pakistani and U.S. intelligence agencies.

After nine years, the Soviets were driven out of Afghanistan. At that time, according to UPI, the U.S. closed down its Afghan operations that were conducted in cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

By then Afghanistan was a war-ravaged county with no roads, schools or infrastructure.

Also by then, bin Laden had his own troops and had set up a worldwide operation.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait, bin Laden's focus changed. The U.S. brought troops and military hardware into the region and defeated Saddam Hussein.

Afghan officials told UPI that bin Laden believes the U.S. "deliberately trapped Saddam into invading Kuwait in order to occupy the region permanently and guarantee cheap oil from its corrupt Saudi puppets."

U.S. intelligence believes bin Laden then established a global terrorist network during the '90s, funding it with his own money and money he made through investments in food processing, diamond trading, farming and construction. He also convinced Muslim clerics to fund his army using money earmarked for the poor.

The core of the network is the Arab Afghans who fought for bin Laden against the Soviets.

Currently, bin Laden's terrorist web is thought to comprise operatives in 60 countries worldwide.

In March Pakistan's leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, told UPI that by demonizing bin Laden, the U.S. turned him into a cult figure among Muslims and a "hero among Islamic extremists."

Omar told UPI that bin Laden is "a hero of the war against the Soviet occupation of our country. He does not operate against anyone from the soil of Afghanistan. We requested that of him. We have his verbal and written pledge that he will abide by it in order that the relations between the Islamic Emirate with other nations are not affected."

Yeah, OK.

All along the Taliban has insisted that the U.S. has had no evidence linking bin Laden to terrorist activity. If that's the case, then why suggest bin Laden leave the country?

Perhaps the Taliban has had a change of heart. Perhaps it's just window dressing. After all, asking him to leave and forcing him to leave are two very different things.

And you think bin Laden is going to walk into the nearest U.S. embassy with his arms outstretched to accept the handcuffs?

Bin Laden knows that just because he's been asked to leave doesn't mean he's leaving.

Here are some other things bin Laden knows.

He knows that if he remains in Afghanistan we can't launch any kind of substantial military operation against him unless it comes from Islamic soil, like in Pakistan.

He knows that if that happens, it will infuriate Islamics who view him as a hero.

He knows he can then frame this as his - and Islam's - struggle against the Great Satan of the West and gain sympathy from Islamic nations.

He knows if this happens, it will be easier to enlist larger numbers of "soldiers" to further his cause.

All of this brings him closer to what I believe is his true goal - a Jihad or holy war.

A war between his concept of good and evil. A war between East and West. A war between Christianity and Islam.

He may get his way.

Of course, we must win the war. We will win the war.

But I shudder to think of the cost.