Holy War Inc. Presented by Jeff Boettcher 11/23/04

The Author Peter Bergen is CNN’s terrorism analyst. He has written for many prestigious magazines, such as The New Republic and The Times of London. Most importantly, in March of 1997, he was contacted by a radical Muslim named Khaled, who told him that Osama Bin Laden wished to do his first ever American interview with CNN.

His sources Mr. Bergen uses many quotes -most from Bin Laden himself- and foreign policy books and academic papers to support his point. His sources are very credible since most of them come straight from quotes by the foremost authorities on terrorism, as well, as the terrorists themselves.

The Book The thesis of Mr. Bergen’s book is given in the title. Al Qaeda is a multinational organization with a border transcending nations and has global reach. He argues that the war Al Qaeda is waging is a political war.

The interview Bin Laden told Mr. Bergen, “Our main (problem) is with the U.S. government. We declared Jihad against the U.S. government because it has committed acts that are extremely unjust, hideous, and criminal through its support of the Israeli occupation in Palestine. We believe the U.S. is directly responsible for those who were killed in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq. This government has transgressed over all bounds and behaves in a way not witnessed before by any power in the world. For this we wish to drive all Americans from Muslim countries and make jihad against the U.S.”

Bin Laden also renounced the U.S. for what he called a “double standard.” He said, “All the Palestinians have to do is throw rocks at the Israelis and they are called terrorists. Yet the Israelis are allowed to bomb U.N. buildings in Qana, Lebanon.”

Bergen’s Thesis Mr. Bergen uses these quotes, as well as many others, to develop his point that Bin Laden is waging a political war. He writes, “Judging by his silence, Bin Laden cares little about cultural issues. What he condemns the U.S. for is simple: its policies in the Middle East.”

The Middle Eastern policies that Bin Laden condemns are the following: U.S. military presence in Arabia U.S. support of Israel Its continued bombings against Iraq U.S. support for regimes such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia that Bin Laden regards as apostates to Islam.

Bin Laden wishes to achieve “umma”, a unified world community of Muslim believers. He sees the U.S. as the biggest threat against his vision, because of their foreign policies. That is why we are his #1 target.

The second point that Mr. Bergen is addressing is the uniqueness of Al Qaeda. He says, and backs this statement up with many quotes, that no terrorist network is as diversified or organized as Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda has terrorist cells in over 30 countries. Yet it is one of the relatively new terrorist networks. This is a tribute to their organization that they were able to grow this fast. The main reason behind their growth is the vast amount of economic resources that they have at their disposal. Bin Laden’s wealth is so diversified that it is nearly impossible to freeze his accounts. He has used his business background to create a terrorist network that is run like a major corporation.

Conclusion Mr. Bergen is very convincing is his arguments that Al Qaeda is waging a political war and has a highly diversified organization. The reason that he is so convincing is that he backs up his points with quotes from what the terrorist actually say, instead of relying on modern political rhetoric.