October 17, 2001
The bombing of Afghanistan is only a sideshow in the US' war against terrorism. The real battle is talking place on the airwaves of a popular Qatari television channel, al-Jazeera, as suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and Western leaders struggle to beat each other's propaganda. Bin Laden launched the latest strike in the media war on Tuesday, inviting CNN to submit six questions for answering in one of the video broadcasts that have become his most powerful weapon.
The propaganda war is crucial because US President George W. Bush can't win popular support in Arab or Muslim countries on the grounds of Arab solidarity, as his father was able to when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
In this war, Washington's enemies can easily construe the US bombing of Afghanistan as blind revenge. Many ordinary Arabs who may be unhappy about bin Laden's creed of violence, remain unconvinced by the West's alleged evidence of his guilt.
Arab leaders, worried about political backlash, have been wary of openly supporting the US strikes against Afghanistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding, and have called on the US to allay any doubts about bin Laden's guilt by providing evidence before continuing with military action.
Over the last few weeks, the West's message of the need to get tough with Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban has failed to permeate through to most Arabs, according to BBC correspondent Frank Gardner, who are too busy watching the latest vitriolic interview with Osama Bin Laden himself on al-Jazeera.
Bin Laden interviews
The Saudi-born exile may be a bete noire in the West, but here in the Middle East he has become a hero to some. Despite his extremist Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, his declared motives tap into a rich vein of Arab discontent. "I swear by Almighty God," he told the Arab world on Sunday, "that neither the US nor he who lives in the US will enjoy security before we can see it as a reality in Palestine and before all the infidel armies leave the land of Mohammed."
In a video that appeared to have been made in a cave and shot in daylight, bin Laden said: "America was hit by God in one of its softest spots. America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that." He warned that the US: "will never feel safe until we and Palestinians feel safe".
The video, released by the al-Jazeera satellite channel, indicated that Bin Laden was well prepared for the American and British attacks. The carefully staged video showed that while totally outgunned by his opponents, Bin Laden was fully aware of the importance of the propaganda battle that will accompany the coming military conflict.
"What happened in the United States is a natural reaction to the ignorant policy of the United States," the statement read by Suleiman Abu Gheit said. "If it continues with this policy, the sons of Islam will not stop their struggle. The American people have to know that what is happening to them now is the result of their support of this policy. The war against Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden is a war on Islam."
Belatedly the US and their close ally, Britain, have realized that they cannot afford not to take on Osama bin Laden on his chosen propaganda battlefield. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the first to try and overcome the hostility of the Muslim world last week in an interview on al-Jazeera. He was followed by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on Monday and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday. Bin Laden has returned the favour, asking a leading US broadcaster, CNN to submit six questions that he would answer in his next videotaped statement.
CNN's six questions
CNN submitted six questions via al-Jazeera. They are:
CNN said the request came through a man who, claiming to represent al-Qaida, contacted al-Jazeera, which will act as the intermediary between al-Qaida and CNN. By inviting Al-Jazeera and CNN to ask questions, bin Laden and Al-Qaida would be taking a new step in their campaign to use television to threaten Americans and inspire followers. CNN made its announcement less than a week after it and the other major television news organizations agreed to a suggestion by the Bush administration that they exercise caution in broadcasting the often inflammatory statements of bin Laden, who the US says is responsible for the terrorist attacks on 11 September. The White House said broadcasting statements by bin Laden could incite violence or possibly send signals to terrorists. But CNN took pains to emphasize that it was under no obligation to show bin Laden's response. Isaacson said CNN would not claim exclusivity on any videotaped response and would invite competitors to use it. CNN is leaving the complicated details of communicating with the people who are accused of arranging the 11 September attacks to al-Jazeera. Several CNN executives said the network wanted to avoid the appearance of having direct and secret access to terrorists, and that it did not want to proceed if it could not be entirely public about the process. "We just think it's important to be forthcoming," a senior CNN executive said. "We're dealing with the world's most wanted terrorist and a terrorist organization that's likely responsible for mass murder."
Al-Jazeera pivotal
The al-Jazeera television network that, in common with it's country of origin, Qatar, was virtually unknown in the West a month ago. But in the Arab world al-Jazeera is one of the premier broadcasters, with an audience of 30 to 35 million from North Africa through the Persian Gulf. It was launched in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar in 1996, with start-up funding from the Qatari government of US$30 million a year through this year. Despite the government subsidy, Qatar has given the station freedom to roam journalistically, which it uses ambitiously.
This has usually meant coverage, especially from Palestine, with an aggressively pro-Arab slant, but the relatively free rein from the government of Qatar has allowed it to be a channel for the expression of dissent in a region dominated by repressive governments. The difficulty for the US is that this dissent usually takes the form of Muslim fundamentalism, prompting US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in the early stages of the campaign against terrorism, to ask the emir of Qatar, whose country hosts al-Jazeera, to help "tone down" anti-US voices on the network.
Along with other new Arab satellite networks, the Internet and independent Arab-language newspapers published in London, al-Jazeera is part of an important political maturation, according to the Wall Street Journal. Many Arab governments have long treated their own people as if they were too immature to handle political debate, open elections and freedom of speech. To the extent the US is seen as supporting or propping up such governments, many Arabs have blamed the US for their stunted political life.
So today, the US challenge is to jump into the widening Arab political debate and defend itself. Almost three years ago, Jon Alterman, a scholar at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, produced a study of the new-media age in the Arab world in which he argued prophetically, "The imperative is for Washington to engage the new Arab media. American officials should seek out opportunities with Arab journalists to make a case for US policy. American officials should appear on camera and explain the US position to a possibly hostile audience."
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