Brendan O’Neill argues that Bin Laden’s rhetoric has become parasitical on Western arguments about the U.S. and its role in the Middle East; he’s gone from being obsessed with Saudi Arabia, to self-declared champion of Palestine, and, now in his most recent supposed message, he parrots many of the lines of the anti-war Left. What gives? Is the idea of “Islamism” (or “Islamo-fascism” as some prefer to call it) as a coherent fighting faith something of a myth? Worth a read.
Does Bin Laden even have an ideology?
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2 responses to “Does Bin Laden even have an ideology?”
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From reading Juan Cole’s site over the last couple years, it seems that the general media has absolutely no idea what to make of bin Laden or his message. They continually misrepresent what he’s saying, at least according to Cole. This is not to defend bin Laden, but just to show that he’s continually re-interpretted for their own purposes. An even more baffling case is that Zarqawi (sp?) guy which they seem to just make stuff up about, pretty much blaming everying on him at times. *shrug*
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Yeah, I think that there’s been precious little attempt to understand Bin Laden’s motives compared to the degree to which he’s been used as a kind of Rorshach test that confirms what people already believe anyway (e.g. about the dangers of appeasement and not being tough enough vs. the evils of U.S. imperialism or whatever).
(Which is not to say that I think understanding Bin Laden is any substitute for hunting his sorry ass down.)
A Thinking Reed 
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