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Osama's Tips for Terrorists

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Dox47
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27 Jun 2014, 12:20 am

Okay, I know this article is actually about ISIS (who I can't take seriously due to Archer), but I was much more intrigued that Osama bin Laden had apparently written out rules for running a successful terrorist organization, and some of them are pretty surprising.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... owing.html

Quote:
1. Don?t fight civil wars. Bin Laden recognized that battling for territory against local governments was a lousy way to get to theocracy. In a 2010 letter, he explained why this wouldn?t work in Yemen:

As for the local enemy, such as if the Yemenis were to begin a long battle against the security services, this is a matter that will weigh on the people. As time goes by, they will begin to feel that some of them have been killed and they will start to want to stop the fighting. This would promote the ideology of secular governments that raise the motto of pleasing all sides.


Quote:
2. Don?t kill civilians. That was Bin Laden?s principal regret. He called for guidelines that would instruct jihadists to avoid ?unnecessary civilian casualties.? Mass bombings in mosques and other public places, he lamented, had resulted in ?the alienation of most of the nation from the Mujahidin.?


Quote:
3. Don?t flaunt your bloodlust. One of the captured al-Qaida letters, believed to have been written by Bin Laden or his aide, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, urges al-Qaida?s Yemeni affiliate to ?stay away from words that will affect the people?s support to the mujahidin.? The letter says the group must ?carefully write our statements in order to avoid all accusation against us from the enemy, who accuse us of being animals and killers.?


Quote:
4. Don?t rule harshly. Bin Laden was a theocratic fundamentalist, but he cautioned his allies to avoid the ?alienation from harshness? that was ?taking over the public opinion.? The worst offender was Somalia?s al-Shabab. In a 2011 letter, Bin Laden urged Atiyah to ?send advice to the brothers in Somalia about the benefit of doubt when it comes to dealing with crimes and applying Shari?a, similar to what the prophet (PBUH) said, to use doubts to fend off the punishments.?


Quote:
5. Don?t claim territory unless you can feed the people. In his 2010 letter, Bin Laden warned:

The issue of providing for basic needs is a matter that must be taken into consideration before taking control of nations or cities. If a controlling force, that enjoys the support of the majority where it has taken control, fails to provide for the basic needs of the people, it will lose their support and will find itself in a difficult position that will grow increasingly difficult with each passing day. People will not bear seeing their children die as a consequence of a lack of food or medicine.


Quote:
6. Don?t fight with your allies. Bin Laden tried to rein in the fratricidal belligerence of ISIS?s precursor organization, al-Qaida in Iraq. He asked his associates to ?resolve any conflicts between all of the Jihadi entities in Iraq.? He cited these conflicts as a lesson for the Yemenis, whom he cautioned against confrontations with potential Muslim partners:

Many Iraqis joined the mujahidin against the Americans until some mistakes happened when some of al-Anbar tribe?s children were attacked without a reason of self-defense (they were not a threat to the mujahidin), but they were registering in the security force compound. This attack resulted in the tribe working against the mujahidin.


Quote:
7. Don?t alarm your enemies prematurely. In 2010, Bin Laden advised his followers in Yemen not to escalate the war there, in part because ?the emergence of a force in control of the Mujahidin in Yemen is a matter that provokes our enemies internationally and locally and puts them on a great state of alert.? The Saudi rulers, once alerted, would ?pump huge funds into recruiting the Yemeni tribes to kill us. They will win over the swords of the majority, which will put the Mujahidin force in Yemen under enemy fire? at a time when ?the capabilities of our brothers there are not yet such that they can enter this sort of struggle.?


I was certainly surprised to see his advice to avoid killing civilians and his concern for giving accused criminals the benefit of the doubt, it almost makes me think he may have been becoming disillusioned with terrorism.


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salad
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27 Jun 2014, 3:53 am

that's because Islam itself prohibits civilian casualties.



Kraichgauer
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27 Jun 2014, 3:57 am

Bin Laden was only referring to Muslim civilians who must not be killed. He obviously had no problem murdering Non-Islamic civilians.


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27 Jun 2014, 6:55 am

Actually the further time moved from 9/11, the less he promoted unprovoked violence. I think that he began to realize just how counter productive many of the actions of his organization were in the long run.

I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I also think
Gaddafi was a similar situation. When he was overhtrown and executed, he had already given up all nuclear capabilities and research (under a food for bombs agreement), he was attempting to establish widespread election, give women the right to vote, and to distribute Libya's oil proceeds equally among its population (which would have been an estimated $30,000 USD per person). All of these things coombined just pissed off too many powerful people, and the west saw its opportunity to get rid of someone who they considered the exact same evil person of 20 years earlier. Don't get me wrong, he was still a brutal leader who suppressed many who opposed him (sometimes violently) and funneled cash to some dangerous groups, but at least he was moving in the right direction. What have we got in Libya now? Warring factions, most of whom are openly anti-US who we supplied arms to. Many of whom are over in Syria with those weapons right now.

ISIS is beginning to have trouble for their brutal tactics. When they first stormed into Iraq, they had much support from the local population that had been unfairly treated, but their support is already waning in light of the continued executions of unarmed (and often civilian) men. The biggest thing ISIS has going for it is that it is very careful to feed people, pay its fighters (luring many of the poor and desparate), and the insistance to preserve infrastructure as much as possible instead of destroy everything.

At this point there is nothing we can do over there that will not help a faction that is a sworn enemy of the US. Even our pursuit and attacks of the Taliban and Al Qaeda have produced even more violent and extreme groups (which are condemned even by their extreme parents).


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27 Jun 2014, 8:01 am

Dox47 wrote:
Okay, I know this article is actually about ISIS (who I can't take seriously due to Archer), but I was much more intrigued that Osama bin Laden had apparently written out rules for running a successful terrorist organization, and some of them are pretty surprising.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... owing.html

Quote:
1. Don?t fight civil wars. Bin Laden recognized that battling for territory against local governments was a lousy way to get to theocracy. In a 2010 letter, he explained why this wouldn?t work in Yemen:

As for the local enemy, such as if the Yemenis were to begin a long battle against the security services, this is a matter that will weigh on the people. As time goes by, they will begin to feel that some of them have been killed and they will start to want to stop the fighting. This would promote the ideology of secular governments that raise the motto of pleasing all sides.


Quote:
2. Don?t kill civilians. That was Bin Laden?s principal regret. He called for guidelines that would instruct jihadists to avoid ?unnecessary civilian casualties.? Mass bombings in mosques and other public places, he lamented, had resulted in ?the alienation of most of the nation from the Mujahidin.?


Quote:
3. Don?t flaunt your bloodlust. One of the captured al-Qaida letters, believed to have been written by Bin Laden or his aide, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, urges al-Qaida?s Yemeni affiliate to ?stay away from words that will affect the people?s support to the mujahidin.? The letter says the group must ?carefully write our statements in order to avoid all accusation against us from the enemy, who accuse us of being animals and killers.?


Quote:
4. Don?t rule harshly. Bin Laden was a theocratic fundamentalist, but he cautioned his allies to avoid the ?alienation from harshness? that was ?taking over the public opinion.? The worst offender was Somalia?s al-Shabab. In a 2011 letter, Bin Laden urged Atiyah to ?send advice to the brothers in Somalia about the benefit of doubt when it comes to dealing with crimes and applying Shari?a, similar to what the prophet (PBUH) said, to use doubts to fend off the punishments.?


Quote:
5. Don?t claim territory unless you can feed the people. In his 2010 letter, Bin Laden warned:

The issue of providing for basic needs is a matter that must be taken into consideration before taking control of nations or cities. If a controlling force, that enjoys the support of the majority where it has taken control, fails to provide for the basic needs of the people, it will lose their support and will find itself in a difficult position that will grow increasingly difficult with each passing day. People will not bear seeing their children die as a consequence of a lack of food or medicine.


Quote:
6. Don?t fight with your allies. Bin Laden tried to rein in the fratricidal belligerence of ISIS?s precursor organization, al-Qaida in Iraq. He asked his associates to ?resolve any conflicts between all of the Jihadi entities in Iraq.? He cited these conflicts as a lesson for the Yemenis, whom he cautioned against confrontations with potential Muslim partners:

Many Iraqis joined the mujahidin against the Americans until some mistakes happened when some of al-Anbar tribe?s children were attacked without a reason of self-defense (they were not a threat to the mujahidin), but they were registering in the security force compound. This attack resulted in the tribe working against the mujahidin.


Quote:
7. Don?t alarm your enemies prematurely. In 2010, Bin Laden advised his followers in Yemen not to escalate the war there, in part because ?the emergence of a force in control of the Mujahidin in Yemen is a matter that provokes our enemies internationally and locally and puts them on a great state of alert.? The Saudi rulers, once alerted, would ?pump huge funds into recruiting the Yemeni tribes to kill us. They will win over the swords of the majority, which will put the Mujahidin force in Yemen under enemy fire? at a time when ?the capabilities of our brothers there are not yet such that they can enter this sort of struggle.?


I was certainly surprised to see his advice to avoid killing civilians and his concern for giving accused criminals the benefit of the doubt, it almost makes me think he may have been becoming disillusioned with terrorism.


All the things that late and unamented Usama bin Laden advised against are second nature to Muslims.

ruveyn