10 - 16 January 2002
Issue No.568
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 10 - 16 January 2002 Issue No.568 |
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How to make your own terrorist
Ben Laden et l'Amérique, (Bin Laden and America), Florent Blanc, Paris: Bayard, 2001. pp240
It was rather surprising for Parisians, in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attack and the "identification" of its mastermind, to notice a book soberly titled "Bin Laden and America" prominently displayed in bookstore windows and obviously dealing with the relationship between the alleged terrorist responsible for drama and his target, the United States.
Arab-Afghans surrendering to forces of the Northern Alliance in Khanabad, Afghanistan on 25 Nov. 2001
A note hastily added by the editors informed readers that the work in its original form -- a research paper -- was presented by a 23-year-old student at the Institute of Political Studies in Grenoble on 12 September 2001 -- i.e., the day following the attack on the World Trade Center. The paper was then titled "The case of Osama Bin Laden: An approach to the relationship between the United States and Islamic terrorism." It was edited slightly and rushed to the publishers, appearing just as everyone was searching for information about the man George W Bush had dubbed the Evildoer.
It may have been Florent Blanc's fate to finish his work at the precise moment when the glare of publicity turned on the Saudi businessman claiming the title of "America's enemy No. 1." Speedy revision of the text made his analysis among the first on Bin Laden to appear in Paris. Others followed in a matter of days but, apart from being the earliest, Blanc's book remains outstanding in that it is an excellent beginner's guide to Afghan politics.
As readers could expect, it is serious scholarship, a thorough study of the circumstances that brought Bin Laden to his rather dubious position of infamous hero.
Ben Laden et l'Amérique is divided into two separate parts, the first an exposé of Afghanistan's modern, turbulent history, the second a short biography of the man himself, including the circumstances of the Bin Laden dynasty's rise from rags to riches. Osama's travels and tribulations, his alliances and subsequent disenchantment, are examined in greater detail.
From the first pages it is obvious Blanc never dreamed he was composing a text that would become a bestseller: he is clearly addressing professors and scholars and is consequently intent on presenting an honest and thorough account of his research, written dispassionately, without any affectation of humour or special effects. It has the immense advantage of being stated in concise language, leading the reader efficiently through the maze of Afghanistan's ethnic demographics and sectarian differences.
Tribal and religious allegiances are explained clearly and the dynamics that bond or oppose the various groups dissected with enough simplicity to allow the reader to follow the reasons for their conflicts and the role played by foreign powers using these groups to their own ends. The haggling over construction of the natural gas pipeline and the choice of its course makes for fascinating reading. Afghanistan's special relationship with Pakistan is allotted an entire section, with emphasis on the way Pakistan opposed the creation of an independent "Pashtunistan," thus frustrating Afghanistan's need for access to the Indian Ocean.
The reign of Zaher Shah, a relatively tranquil time for Afghanistan, is briefly touched upon; Blanc nevertheless sheds light on Soviet-American competition to curry favour with the regime during that period. Aid rained down on the country, courtesy of the two superpowers; but Moscow eventually took the lead between 1956 and 1961, when it agreed to equip and train the Afghan army and air force after Washington had refused to sell arms to Kabul or grant it long-term loans at a nominal interest rate. Moscow then went ahead and from 1957 to 1973 invested over a billion dollars in the country, setting up a gigantic and strategically significant infrastructure in a bid to embroil the Afghan monarchy in a system of alliances and influence ruled over from the Soviet capital.
The machinations of both superpowers eventually bore their fruit, contributing with other factors to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the birth of one of the strictest Islamic regimes ever witnessed.
Blanc retraces the history of the Taliban, young religious Muslim students from all over the Arab world, many of them Al-Azhar graduates, who flocked to Afghanistan in answering the call of their religious leaders to train for the coming jihad.
From 1965 and until the withdrawal of the Red Armies, he writes, Afghanistan was under a dual influence from within: the communist-inspired Afghan Popular Democratic Party, and the first organised Islamic movement, the Jamiat-i Jawanan-i Musulman (Association of Young Muslims).
Blanc also carefully examines the controversial role of the CIA and its responsibility for guiding and nurturing the young Islamists as the Cold War grew frostier. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, the CIA was able to organise trained gangs of terrorists -- this is abundantly clear. If Osama Bin Laden, the Agency's own creature, eventually turned against the US, it is because the Americans gave him the means to do so, Blanc concludes.
Chapter 6, "Washington against Osama Bin Laden," and takes the reader to the World Trade Center at the time of the 1993 bombing. "From the instant [the bomb] exploded in the World Trade Center, the United States launched a global manhunt, with the help of its government agencies and its allies' intelligence services, to find the authors of this act of terrorism and have them tried by the federal court of Manhattan," writes Blanc.
When, several years later, American embassies and military bases were attacked abroad, the same procedure was reactivated. "However," he adds, "the suspicions surrounding Bin Laden and singling him out as the prime mover behind the bombings were too tenuous to allow for his extradition, despite the pressures exercised by the United States and its allies on the Taliban regime." Blanc then retraces the three momentous trials connected to these events: the first directly concerns the bombing of the WTC and features Ramzi Youssef and Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman; the second deals with the culprits in the bombing of American interests abroad; and the third is an attempt to bring charges against Bin Laden. The idea that Bin Laden was trying to buy weapons of mass destruction began to take hold during the trial related to the embassy bombings. It appeared that the group attached to Bin Laden had been dabbling with the idea of purchasing enriched uranium. It is during this period that more became known about Bin Laden, and especially his deep resentment of the United States for daring to establish military bases on the holy land of Saudi Arabia at the inception of the Gulf War.
During the following months, the media turned the limelight on him, but he remained elusive, moving from country to country. A legend blossomed about his power, the size of his financial empire, the number of men ready to die for the cause that he commanded and the extraordinarily sophisticated system of communicating caves that he had constructed in the Afghan mountains, and which served as training grounds and hiding places for his fighters. Young would-be terrorists from the Arab world were joining his ranks every day and when, after a stint in Sudan, he finally settled in Afghanistan, his Arab kamikazes and the indigenous mujahidin established a close alliance. The scene was now set for 11 September.
Blanc concludes his research with a short discussion of the clash of civilisations, arguing that its cause is not the contradiction between Muslim East and Christian West. Rather than attempting to ascribe it to purely religious motives, he believes the conflict should be seen through the prism of the two entities' recent history, the disparity in their wealth, memories of Western colonialism and the chasm between Western principles and Western actions.
Reviewed by Fayza Hassan
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