Free Essays on Bin Laden

As America fought wars around the globe in the 20th century, one principle guided U.S. alliances: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. In the war against Hitler, the United States found common cause with Stalin. In the war against Japan, America aided Vietnamese rebel Ho Chi Minh. In Third World struggles, America helped Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein. And as Afghan rebels fought Soviet invaders in the During the 1980s, the United States gave aid from afar while Saudi exile Osama bin Laden provided support from within Afghanistan. Bin Laden emerged quickly after the September 11th attack on America as the prime suspect, directing a global network of terrorists from camps in Afghanistan. His apparent role in the attacks and the possibility of retaliation generated acute interest in Omaha, home to about 300 former Afghan refugees and the nation's only Center for Afghanistan Studies. Before most of the world knew who bin Laden was, Thomas Gouttierre, director of the Afghan program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), spent several months studying him for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan in 1996 and '97. Gouttierre, who has 37 years experience dealing with Afghanistan, used his sources to confirm for then-U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan after leaving Sudan. In his office, Gouttierre still has his bin Laden file, including maps showing the locations of his training camps in the mountainous Central Asian nation. The UNO scholar never met bin Laden but saw his compound in the city of Kandahar and once saw his motorcade pass as the terrorist leader traveled protected by security vehicles. Gouttierre also spent part of his U.N. duty meeting and studying the Taliban, radical Muslim clerics who were and still are fighting for control of Afghanistan. The Taliban reportedly control about 95 percent of the country now. Even before la... Free Essays on Bin Laden Free Essays on Bin Laden A Response to â€Å"Bin Laden’s Bad Bet† Franklin Zakaria, in his article makes a shocking point for most Americans. A year ago, America was stricken with terror. We had the curtain pulled from right in front of our eyes, and on stage we saw a tyrant, Osama Bin Laden, and his Al Queda organization. Hiding behind the curtain for years, Bin Laden planned a treacherous â€Å"play† of terror. When the time was right, and all of America was not paying attention, the curtain was drawn back and the Taliban, along with its director, proceeded to surprise the world with their â€Å"play†. However, September 11, 2001 was not a â€Å"play†; it was an act of destruction, a plot of pure evil. Osama Bin Laden’s motive was not one only to affect the United States but the whole world. He hoped that by his feats of terror he would spark an outburst of radical movements across the Islamic world. Nevertheless, â€Å"The dog has not barked.† (Zakaria p.34) Some believe that he is hiding from fear; yet others sense that Bin Laden is hiding not in fear but in hope to resurrect another plan of mass destruction. Fareed Zakaria gives us a history lesson to help explain his point of view on the outcome of September 11. A decade ago, many people were concerned with political Islam-â€Å"how to setup an Islamic state, implement Sharia and practice Islamic banking.† (p.34) Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan all were terrorized by Islamic groups like the mullahs, but today they are for the most part vanquished. Again, many say that they are still in hiding, but this is where Mr. Zakaria makes an outstanding point. If these terrorist are in hiding it must be in fear, because how can a political movement achieve its goals if no one speaks its name? â€Å"A revolution, especially a transitional one, needs ideologues, pamphlets and party lines to articulate its message to the world. It needs politicians willing to embrace its cause. The Islami... Free Essays on Bin Laden As America fought wars around the globe in the 20th century, one principle guided U.S. alliances: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. In the war against Hitler, the United States found common cause with Stalin. In the war against Japan, America aided Vietnamese rebel Ho Chi Minh. In Third World struggles, America helped Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein. And as Afghan rebels fought Soviet invaders in the During the 1980s, the United States gave aid from afar while Saudi exile Osama bin Laden provided support from within Afghanistan. Bin Laden emerged quickly after the September 11th attack on America as the prime suspect, directing a global network of terrorists from camps in Afghanistan. His apparent role in the attacks and the possibility of retaliation generated acute interest in Omaha, home to about 300 former Afghan refugees and the nation's only Center for Afghanistan Studies. Before most of the world knew who bin Laden was, Thomas Gouttierre, director of the Afghan program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), spent several months studying him for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan in 1996 and '97. Gouttierre, who has 37 years experience dealing with Afghanistan, used his sources to confirm for then-U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan after leaving Sudan. In his office, Gouttierre still has his bin Laden file, including maps showing the locations of his training camps in the mountainous Central Asian nation. The UNO scholar never met bin Laden but saw his compound in the city of Kandahar and once saw his motorcade pass as the terrorist leader traveled protected by security vehicles. Gouttierre also spent part of his U.N. duty meeting and studying the Taliban, radical Muslim clerics who were and still are fighting for control of Afghanistan. The Taliban reportedly control about 95 percent of the country now. Even before la...