Though the images and message of Reel I contain little that an Arab viewer would find new, the skillful editing, both of sound and image, has substantial cumulative power. Young Arab males seem particularly struck by the appeals to their sense of shame at sitting by while women and children are assaulted, holy places are defiled, and braver men who stand up for Islam suffer injury and death. The images of Arab rulers, particularly those of Saudi Arabia, honoring American leaders and doing nothing to help suffering Muslims compounds the sense of shame. Images of Iraqi infants dead or malnourished because of Crusader hatred (i.e., US sanctions after the Gulf War of 1991) are followed by a scene of an Iraqi soldier abasing himself before Saddam Hussein, who is described as an unbeliever. Quick shots of the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia follow immediately, conveying the message that Saddam is no better than his erstwhile foes.
es new roman" size=3>The violent images and evocative soundtrack of Reel I manipulate preexisting assumptions to stir feelings of revulsion and outrage in the viewers. The producer of the tape presumed that the audience would know about violent situations in Muslim lands, particularly the West Bank and Gaza, and require no explanations. More explaining is done for places like Kashmir and Indonesia that are remote from the Arab world. A sense of religiosity, and particularly of the sacredness of the Muslim holy places, is likewise assumed, as is a feeling that Arab rulers are effete and dominated by America, and that Muslim men should feel ashamed if they do not defend the honor of women. These assumptions permitted the producer to minimize verbal exposition and let the images and sounds build their own argument.
In the midst of the violence and outrage, one image and one alone comes through as calm and reflective, saddened but resolute. That is the image of Osama bin Laden, depicted in Reel I wearing the plain white head cover of a religious shaykh (teacher). Symbolically, he is the calm center, the refuge, the leader who has the courage and the composure to lay before his audience the awful truth about the situation of the Muslim umma. Dressed in white, standing in a mosque alcove, relating somber "truths" in an Arabic of the vocabulary and classical pronunciation of the Koran, his austerity contrasts favorably with pictures of Saudi leaders honoring foreign crusaders or Saddam Hussein allowing a soldier to bow before him.
Prologue
Osama bin Laden, wearing the plain white head cover of a religious teacher, recites a highly charged, inflammatory poem about the condition of the Muslim umma (worldwide community), appalled, mobilized, and seeking vengeance against its enemies. In particular, bin Laden extols the young men in Najd, Saudi Arabia, who have risen up and joined the jihad. He also praises the young men in Aden, Yemen, who demolished the indestructible American destroyer USS Cole, directly indicating approval and knowledge of that suicide bombing in Aden. Here, as in several other scenes, bin Laden is standing in front of a wall-sized map of the world, symbolizing the scope of the problems and solutions he wants his audience to be conscious of. The dagger in his waistband is typical for formal male dress in Yemen and Oman in southern Arabia. This suggests an affinity between bin Laden, the son of a Yemeni father, and the Yemeni suicide bombers who attacked the USS Cole. Visually, an explosion is superimposed over the hole in the hull of the USS Cole to convey the sense of watching the attack live.
Excerpt 1: Land of the Two Holy Places
Bin Laden states: "The wounds of the Muslims are deep everywhere. But today our wounds are deeper because the crusaders and the Jews have joined together to invade the heart of Dar al-Islam ('The Abode of Islam': our most sacred places in Saudi Arabia, Mecca and Medina, including the prophet's Mosque, and the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (al-Quds)." The term Dar al-Islam comes from an Islamic legal distinction between those lands that observe Islamic law and those that don't, termed Dar al-Harb ("Abode of War"). Labeling this segment "Land of the Two Holy Places" implicitly rejects the legitimacy of Saudi rule in Saudi Arabia. Visually, the scenes of believers engaged in pilgrimage rituals at the Kaaba in Mecca, the cubical stone building that Muslims face in prayer, contrast powerfully with scenes of American tanks and soldiers on maneuvers in the Arabian desert.
Excerpt 2: Land of the Two Holy Places, Continued
This excerpt begins with interspersed images of American forces in Saudi Arabia: President Bush in a tank, Secretary of Defense William Cohen meeting King Fahd, Secretary of State Warren Christopher shaking hands with Saudi foreign minister, Saud bin Faisal and Muslims making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Bin Laden condemns the Saudi rulers for their failure to protect the holy places by allowing American troops, including Jewish and Christian male and female soldiers, to roam freely on the land where the Prophet Muhammad was born and the Quran descended: "This land is exceptional because it is the most beloved by Allah. How could it be that the Americans are permitted to wander freely on the Prophet's land? Have Muslim peoples lost their faith? Have they forsaken the Prophet's religion? Forgive me, Allah, I wash my hands of these [Arab] rulers!" Images suggesting the Saudi's regime subservient, do-nothing attitude toward the American presence climaxes with the king awarding a medal to President Bill Clinton.
Excerpt 3: Palestine
Bin Laden asks: "Where is the Muslim umma and its one billion believers? The umma sees and hears that the Quran is being defamed, burned, and used by the Jews as disposable tissues, yet it stands idly by. Jews in occupied Palestine violate and dishonor defenseless Muslim women and imprison those young, brave cubs who have stood up to defend their religion, while their cowardly Arab presidents and kings betray the Prophet's path and way." Visually, the transition from "Land of the Two Holy Places" to "Palestine" focuses on images of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Recitation of verses from the Quran mentioning al-Aqsa support this. The issue of Palestine is thus raised without discussing or endorsing the political analyses and demands of any Palestinian organization.
Excerpt 4: Palestine, Continued
This segment features a highly charged and emotional poem about Israeli soldiers violating the honor of Palestinian girls and women. The poem appeals to the honor of Arab men and calls on them to protect the sanctity of their sisters and mothers and of children who are killed in their mother's arms. The poem accuses Muslims of passivity and cowardice in the face of what the Jews have been doing in Palestine in the last 50 years. "Muslims are blind and deaf to the suffering of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. Oh Aqsa! Oh Aqsa!"
Excerpt 5: Palestine, Continued
This entire excerpt focuses on the well-known and frequently recalled killing of a Palestinian boy and his father caught between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen. The video and sound editing expertly intensify the emotion of the scene. Poem: "I am the father of Muhammad trying to no avail to protect him from Israeli fire. I tried in vain to warn Israeli troops to stop firing at my son, but the shooting continued and four shots hit my child, who fell dead." This powerful poem presents Muhammad's father mourning his baby's death and asking his forgiveness for failing to shield him and protect him. The poem uses the killing of Muhammad to attack what the narrator calls the "cowardly Arab rulers, thieves and cronies, who betrayed Palestine and the Palestinians and sold them out at the altar of material and political gains. Do not count, Muhammad, on Arabs for they are no different than your assassins, the Jews." The death of Muhammad, he continues, also exposed the distortion and corruption of the Arab media, interested mainly in nudity, dance, and in distraction of the Arab mind and consciousness. These denunciations of the Arab governments and media are accompanied by images of cheerful American leaders and a clip subtitled "The army of the Saudi family dances with Christians and Jews during the al-Aqsa intifada."
Excerpt 6: Iraq
Bin Laden: "They [the West] have besieged Iraqi children. More than one million Iraqi children have died, as acknowledged by the Christians (Nasara) themselves. In what religion's name do they besiege these innocent children all these long years? Even if their leader, Saddam Hussein, betrayed Allah and his Prophet and took the Baath Party as his God in the same manner in which Arab rulers worship and obey their masters in the White House, why do Iraqi children have to be punished? What is their crime? What is the crime of the peoples of Afghanistan to be besieged and sanctioned by the international infidels and the atheist United Nations of which all Arab and Muslim countries are members?" Bin Laden, tears in his eyes, accuses oppressive and autocratic Arab rulers of being partners and participants in the Crusaders' siege of Iraq and Iraqi children. This speech, with accompanying images of American leaders receiving and being honored by Arab rulers, is calculated to inflame the passions of Arab and Muslim viewers against the United States and its Muslim allies. By following the clip of an Iraqi soldier paying obeisance to Saddam Hussein with images of Sheikh Jabir, the ruler of Kuwait, and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia honoring President Clinton, bin Laden symbolically erases the battlelines of the Gulf War. The three rulers are equally guilty of betraying Muslims, and the soldier's subordination to Saddam Hussein is made parallel with King Fahd's implied subordination to President Clinton.
Excerpt 7: Finale
This speech, by one of bin Laden's associates, closes Reel I. It recapitulates the presentation of the Muslim world under attack and repeats the opening emphasis on threats to the Muslim holy places in Arabia and Jerusalem. Abu Hafs decries the fact that infidel nations representing Crusaders and Jews have attacked the Muslim umma and Muslim countries, have robbed them of their fortunes and resources, and have destroyed them. More importantly, the infidel nations have violated and controlled the most sacred places in Islam: Mecca, Medina (particularly the Prophet Muhammad's Mosque), and the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in Palestine.
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