Bin Laden in Osama Bin Laden's "Letter Essay

Bin Laden

In Osama Bin Laden's "Letter to the American People," the Al Qaida leader used the Koran, the holy book of Islam, in order to excuse his actions against the population of the United States. The letter enumerates his feelings, and by extension those of all Al Qaida members, that what he and his organization is doing is justified by God. First, he lists reasons by which America is an aggressor against Muslims and thus their actions are in self-defense. Following this, are the other various reasons why Bin Laden believes that the United States is a sworn enemy and deserving of violent action, most notably their support and defense of Israel. The letter is nothing more than propaganda from a terrorist organization with a slanted and misguided viewpoint, who are trying to defend their actions by willful misinterpretation of the Koran and by misidentifying themselves as Muslims when in fact their choices are antithetical to the dictations of that religion.

The most egregious action of Al Qaida and other Middle Eastern terrorist factions is that they claim to be representing the Muslim people.They state that it is the Muslims who are committing murders and organizing attacks on civilians when that is a fallacious lie. Many people of the world erroneously equate Muslims with these fundamentalist terrorists. Videos have been released by these terrorists, often attributing their actions to their religion, which the claim to be Muslim. Many proclaim that it is the will of Allah, the Muslim God, that forces them to act against the United States and other countries who oppose terrorism. In the letter, Bin Laden quotes a few passages from the Koran but intentionally misrepresents their meanings. The quotes used all focus on the power of Allah but none indicate anything about using violence or force as a means of obtaining political power. In fact, the Muslim religion is highly pacifist and rejects violence against other people as being against the will of God. Bin Laden and his group are not religious fundamentalists. They are terrorists who are bent on political power but use the facade of a religious principle in order to disguise their actions as something more than politically….....