The portions of the tape presented in this seminar and the accompanying analyses and commentaries reveal the worldview of the bin Laden organization and illustrate its propaganda skills. Produced on behalf of Osama bin Laden and prominently featuring his image, words, and ideas, the tape is designed to recruit young Arab men to journey to Afghanistan and train for a war in defense of Islam.

The three reels
The tape divides into three "scenes." Reel I is entitled "The Situation of the Muslim Umma." The word umma has served for 14 centuries to denote the entirety of the world Muslim community. All Muslims belong to the umma. At the outset, therefore, the audience being addressed is Muslim and worldwide, and the situation depicted is one of worldwide assault on Muslims by Crusaders and Jews.

Reel II is entitled "The Causes." The copy of the tape available for study shows the beginning and end of this scene, but the middle, including any subheadings beyond the first ("Love of This World and Loathing of Death"), is missing. Judging from the other two scenes, there were probably at least two other subheadings, and it seems likely from the last few minutes before the start of Reel III that the final subheading concentrated on the centrality of the United States to the worldwide violence perpetrated against the Muslim community.

Reel III is entitled "The Solution." It divides into the following subsections: 1) "Hijra," a word drawn from the early history of Islam, when Muhammad and a few hundred followers fled oppression at the hands of the Meccans and in 622 made a migration (hijra) to the city of Medina, and used here by bin Laden for the obligation pious Muslims should feel to come to Afghanistan and join the battle to defend Islam; 2) "Preparation," referring to receiving military training and religious instruction at camps in Afghanistan; 3) "Jihad,"a word literally meaning "making an effort" and susceptible of many non-violent interpretations in Islam, but here used to mean holy war in defense of the Muslim community.

Background
The undeniable popularity and effectiveness of Osama bin Laden's propaganda reflects a predisposition on the part of his intended audience to believe what he is saying. Some aspects of that predisposition are readily understandable. No one doubts that most people in the Arab and Muslim world disagree strongly with American policies in the Arab-Israeli arena. Outrage over the sanctions placed on Iraq after the Gulf War of 1991 is similarly widespread since most people in bin Laden's audience believe the sanctions have caused massive loss of life among innocent Iraqi civilians. And the stationing of American military personnel on Saudi soil signals to many an obsessive American interest in Persian Gulf oil and a disregard for Muslim religious feelings.

Powerful imagery portrays wayward Muslim leaders kowtowing to the United States

A second and less apparent element favoring acceptance of bin Laden's propaganda derives from the lack of significant citizen participation in the political affairs of all but a few Muslim countries. People who have never known free elections and are subject to the decisions of absolute monarchs, military dictators, and heads of single-party regimes tend to see world affairs as the outcome of secret maneuverings by powerful forces. Internal security police and informants shadow their daily imaginings at home, and fantasies of conspiracy explain what happens on the international level. Past realities of imperialist manipulation, both overt and covert, make more credible bin Laden's claim that the United States controls every action taken by Muslim governments in agreement with its policies and that the United States is therefore Islam's foremost enemy.

A third factor working in bin Laden's favor is the history of Islam and of Muslim states as a major force in world affairs. Bin Laden calls on that remembered past in asking Muslims to follow the historic and triumphant example of the Prophet Muhammad, and he relies on the universal understanding that Islam's political eclipse came primarily at the hands of European imperialists. Contemporary Western manifestations of ignorance and insensitivity toward Islam as a religion, and in many countries toward Muslims as immigrants, seem a continuation of this confrontational past.

Bin Laden is depicted as a tranquil, assured, stoic leader of the Muslim umma.

Against this background, a call to see Islam as under attack and to see the United States as the leading attacker strikes many Muslims as both insightful and bold. And the fact that bin Laden's declaration of war and murderous attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have triggered a devastating military response will only confirm, in the minds of some, the notion that bin Laden's analysis of Islam's plight is true.

Understanding the framework within which bin Laden builds his support will make possible a more focused and effective response to those who seek not just an end to American foreign policies they disagree with, but the destruction of our vision of a peaceful, prosperous, and tolerant world.