Terrorism dates to as far as the 1st Century. Modern Terrorism was believed to be in relation to the Reign of terror that happened in France up until the mid-19th century. During the 19th century very powerful explosives were created. In the 21st century, a terrorist known as Osama bin Laden who closely advised the leaders in the Middle East and created a terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda. Their first attack against U.S was in August 1988. But their most known attack was the one in September 2004.
We are going to focus on two videos that Osama bin Laden released. The first video was a video that was released on 29th October 2004 UTC. The video was broadcasted by al Jazeera. In this video bin Laden admits that he was answerable for the 9/11 occurrences and he warns the United States of America on more attacks. The video was 18 minutes long and bin Laden spoke for 14 min. and 39 seconds. The second video we shall focus on is the video that was released on 6th September 2007. The video was approximately 26 minutes long and the title of the video was “The Solution”. In this video bin Laden mentions the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq war. Osama bin Laden also makes a suggestion in this video that regards religion, claiming that Americans should convert to Islam.
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"Terrorism: Origins, Ideologies, and Goals".
His main goal in both videos was to cause fear among the American citizens by accepting that he was responsible for the attacks that happened on 11th September 2001 in the first video and mentioning the attacks again in the second video and the Iraq war. He addressed the American citizens in Arabic. The emotions that were meant to be aroused to the listeners of these tapes were emotions of fear and panic. By mentioning that he was responsible for the 9/11 attacks he causes a sense of panic among the American citizens as they wonder why the terrorist who caused the attacks that killed many people hasn’t been caught yet. Another goal was to also create doubt among the citizens towards the government which was then led by President George W Bush.
By his use of Arabic in both videos he shows that there is a serious drift between the Muslims and the western people as bin Laden is addressing the western people using Arabic. In the second video, bin Laden criticizes the perception that the American society has regarding Islam. The fact that he uses Arabic to get his point across emphasizes on the magnitude of the problem.
Osama bin Laden is very strategic when it comes to convincing the Muslim listener to support Al-Qaeda. In the 2004 video he is wearing a turban and a white robe. The white robe is partially covered by a golden mantle. In his 2007 video he is still wearing a turban, a white robe plus a beige cloak. This is Islam attire and therefore he seems more relatable to the Muslim listener. This makes it easier for the Muslim listener to support the Al-Qaeda group. Bin Laden also praises Allah and mentions Allah several times. This shows that his faith in his religion is very strong. He also claims peace to be upon those that follow Allah’s guidance. This can easily convince a Muslim listener that what the Al-Qaeda is doing is simply following the wishes of Allah.
My perception to bin Laden’s overall purpose in making these videos was to be able to instigate fear among the Americans. I think he also wanted to give his reasons as to why the 9/11 attacks happened and to get the support of the Muslims who were residents of the United States and Muslims generally in the whole world. I also think that Osama bin Laden wanted to create friction among the American citizens and the government. In his videos he pointed out the flaws of president Bush and the government.
As a homeland security as well as emergency management expert the best approach would be to establish if the videos are authentic and determine if bin Laden is still alive. After this has been established, undercover professionals should undertake serious investigation into the 9/11 attacks to prevent them from happening again.
- Chaliand, G., & Blin, A. (2007). The history of terrorism: From antiquity to al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Usama, . L., & Lawrence, B. (2005). Messages to the world: The statements of Osama bin Laden. London: Verso.
