Word: ladens
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Laden is captured alive and his picture is shown on front pages and TV screens across the world in a demeaning manner, as was the case with his recently arrested senior comrade Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, expect to see in the Muslim world a general sense of exasperated resignation, as well as increased anti-Americanism. Images of this dramatic and humiliating episode would forever be inscribed in the minds of the young and old--most important in the memories of a generation of frustrated teenagers searching for role models. The hero would be in shackles, untidy, with no turban and certainly...
...matter how operational bin Laden's organization might still be, it would struggle to recruit more members or provoke more rebellion. With the charismatic leader in shackles, the entire organization would suffer paralysis. His arrest might result in more hatred of the U.S. But without a leader as charismatic and appealing as bin Laden, his followers would not be able to utilize that anger...
...situation would differ a great deal if bin Laden were granted the honor of martyrdom. Muslims believe that martyrs do not die; they simply move to a better place, where they gain rewards, while their martyrdom inspires young men and women back on earth to seek the same fate in the service of the noblest of causes...
Rather than experience sadness and frustration, the masses who admired bin Laden's daring revolution would celebrate him and vow to avenge his death. Mobs might well take to the streets, despite the likelihood that national authorities would resort to force to suppress them. Mock funerals and special congregation prayers would no doubt be held in various parts of the Muslim world to herald the departure of another great mujahid in this open-ended war against what some Muslims call the infidels of all types...
...question is whether bin Laden's al-Qaeda would be able to utilize the occasion to revive itself, rally more people behind it and recruit more suicide bombers. Or perhaps we would find that al-Qaeda, as some already suspect, is more of a phenomenon than an organization. In that case, bin Laden's fate as a martyr might still pave the way for more terrorist attacks against Western targets across the world, exactly what the U.S. has been trying to avert. When President Bush announced in September 2001 that he wanted bin Laden captured, "dead or alive...