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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (9653)	11/10/2001 2:06:38 PM
From: Poet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Perhaps I misunderstood. I thought you were making a point about the Taliban in general, in which case I don't see a great deal of caring about the female half of the population there. As far as suicide bombers are concerned, what I took away from the NYT Magazine article a couple of weeks ago was that the the primary motivator was essentially selfish (ie.entrance to Heaven) rather than altruistic (better living standards for their families).

To: Ilaine who wrote (9653)	11/10/2001 5:02:24 PM
From: Selectric II	Respond to of 281500

Bin Laden cares about Mecca and Medina, passionately. I doubt it. Bin Laden cares about Bin Laden. He seems like a typical narcissistic despot who will use whatever means appear most promising to achieve power and influence. Religion is a handy medium for him, because it arouses so much passion and because there are so many impoverished, undereducated, disillusioned Muslims around the world. They're a vulnerable target for his message. I read recently that OBL used to be a whoring alcoholic before becoming a guerilla leader in Afghanistan. Don't know if that's true, but he certainly is the black sheep of a very prominent and successful family. He was stripped of his Saudi citizenship for his terrorist acts. This is, in part, his way of getting back at his family and his country. After 9.11, he invoked the U.S. support for Israel and the Palestinians, our military presence in Saudi Arabia ("infidels desecrating sacred soil"), and several other things as justification for his "cause." As if he was throwing out political feelers to see what worked best. The others were non-starters, so he's focused on Israel and Palestine since then. Just because OBL invokes religion and hatred in its name doesn't mean he cares about it. I believe that to him, it's just a handy rallying cry.