The 2006 Usama Bin Laden Tape: Interpreting an Adversary

Youssef Aboul-Enein

Global Crime, 2006, vol. 7, issue 3-4, 446-453

Abstract: Editor's Note: This essay is an excellent example of why we should be reading and analyzing the public messages of our opponents. Too often we dismiss the statements of Bin Laden and other criminal-soldiers as pure rhetoric and propaganda. In our struggle against Al-Qaeda and other criminal-state entities it is imperative that we know and understand the leadership of ‘thine enemy’ in order to disrupt, dismantle, and ultimately defeat them. This essay discusses the rationale behind Usama Bin Laden's January 2006 tape, released by the Al-Qaeda leader after a 13 month hiatus. The essay puts forward theories behind the timing of the release of the tape and highlights Bin Laden's changes in strategic thought in response to changes in the political landscape of the Middle East. Bin Laden has also been carefully monitoring the anti-war movement and, for the first time, urges Americans to read an American author as a means of understanding his geo-political desires for the Muslim world. Readers will also be able to place Bin Laden's January 2006 tape in the context of recent statements by Ayman Al-Zawhairi and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1080/17440570601073103

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