In One Way, I Fear All Damascus

I Wouldn't Say I Was Part Of An Anti-war Campaign.

Osama Bin Laden Is Very Shrewd. But He Struck Me, Even In 1997, As Being Remarkably Out Of Touch. I Remember Thinking This Does Not Look Like The Type Of Guy Who Walks To The Top Of A Mountain With A Mobile Phone And Says, "operation B, Attack."now He Is America's Number One Enemy. He's Always Wanted To Be That.

Individuals In Various Countries Like Egypt And Saudi Arabia Listen To The Tapes Of Bin Laden. They Gather In Groups Of Four Or Five. They Feel They Want To Do Something To Express Their Support For What They've Heard. The Idea That They Were Taking Orders Is A Particularly Western Idea.

Whether Osama Bin Laden Is Doing It Cynically And Has No Interest In These Matters, Or Whether He's Doing It Out Of Genuine Conviction, His Voice Has A Tremendous Resonance Throughout The Arab World. One Editorial In A Lebanese Paper Said It Is A Matter Of Great Humiliation For The Arabs That The Only Man Who Can Outline, Truthfully, What Our Humiliations Are Is An Arab Who Has To Say It From A Cave In A Foreign Country.

The Americans May Think They Have 'liberated' Baghdad But The Tens Of Thousands Of Thieves - They Came In Families And Cruised The City In Trucks And Cars Searching For Booty - Seem To Have A Different Idea What Liberation Means.