[Rhaenda]

Or perhaps bin Laden is not motivated at all by revenge towards the U.S. or
the Russians or the Israelis for that matter.  Suppose he is using the
despair of the Afghanis, the Palestinians, and the extremely devout for his
own aims.  Suppose bin Laden wants to be the new Mahdi,  suppose he wants to
overturn the Saudi government, to throw out Saddam Hussein as the 'Caliph',
establishing himself as Caliph, gaining control of the nukes Pakistan has
developed, getting the Iraqi stockpiles of chemicals and biologicals not to
mention the oil (oil being the elephant in the room).  Maybe he wants the
U.S. troops out of Saudi not because of  the religious significance of their
presence but because they stand between him and Riyadh.  Casting bin Laden
as a mere religious fanatic out to avenge the alleged mistreatment of third
party muslims underestimates the man and his ambitions.  It may not be about
religion, it may not be about revenge, it may be about power.

And as for 'blowback' from Iran, the Pahlevi family has been gone for 22
years and the ayatollahs have been running the show ever since.  The
Iranians despise bin Laden and his sect of Islam and he returns the favor.
The hostility between Sunni and Shi' ite dates back to 2 hours after the
death of the Prophet when Ali was passed over as successor.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Monroe" <davidmmonroe at hotmail.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 2:33 AM


> Okay, my rare post on the events of the past week or two.  From Chalmers
> Johnson, "Blowback," The Nation (October 15, 2001) ...
>
> "The suicidal assassins of September 11, 2001, did not 'attack America,'
as
> our political leaders and the news media like to maintain; they attacked
> American foreign policy.
>
> [...]
>
> > [...]
>
> The last straw as far as bin
> Laden was concerned was that, after the Gulf War, we based 'infidel'
> American troops in Saudi Arabia to prop up its decadent, fiercely
> authoritarian regime. Ever since, bin Laden has been attempting to bring
the
> things the CIA taught him home to the teachers.  On September 11, he
appears
> to have returned to his deadly project with a vengeance.
>
> [...]
>
> > _________________________________________________________________
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>