What DID He Say?

A most interesting read indeed...

--ryan


Tim Giago: What was the message of Osama bin Laden?
Notes from Indian Country
 
(C)2004 KNIGHT RIDDER
Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) 11/22/2004

 
He appeared on television screens across America a few days before the presidential election of 2004.
 
Osama bin Laden, looking healthy, wealthy and wise, was determined to send a message to the American people. What was that message?
 
The initial reaction by the political pundits was one of outrage. How dare this murderer try to influence this election. How dare this terrorist try to communicate with us.
 
CIA and FBI analysts retired to their cubicles to dissect and interpret the message of bin Laden.
 
The popular interpretation is that bin Laden was attempting to influence the election by pointing out some of the more salient points of the George W. Bush administration while not disparaging his opponent, John Kerry.
 
Setting aside the interpretations of the government spooks and satirists, perhaps his message becomes more clear if it is seen through the eyes of a people who have lived in a country that has been occupied by a foreign power; the indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere.
 
In a recent speech, Wilma Mankiller, the former leader of the Cherokee Nation said, "As a people, we can empathize with the people of Iraq because they are experiencing many of the things we experienced as a people." Mankiller was expressing her views of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the efforts of one nation to impose its political views upon that of another.
 
What bin Laden said was that it didn’t matter who was elected president, Bush or Kerry, because in the long run what happened in the relations between America and the Muslim nations was up to the people. In a democracy it is supposed to be the people who rule, not the people they elect..
 
Osama bin Laden attempted to explain why 9/11 happened and suggested that something akin to it can and will happen again if the people of America do not find new ways to deal with the Muslim nations.
 
Unbridled hate can blind great nations. We can find it in our own history. After the elite troops of the Seventh Cavalry were decimated at the Battle of Greasy Grass (Little Bighorn) in 1876, there developed a seething hatred by the troopers of the Seventh Cavalry toward the people of the Great Sioux Nation. That hatred simmered for 14 years until that winter day of December 29, 1890 when unforgiving soldiers of the Seventh Cavalry unleashed their hatred upon the innocent Lakota men, woman and children at Wounded Knee.
 
There is an analogy here that goes far beyond the simplistic ranting of political pundits. When and how did this hatred by so many people of the Muslim faith become so overwhelming that it led to the horrific events of September 11? We now know that it was not the doings of a few fundamentalist fanatics.
 
The celebrations in the streets of the Muslim nations after 9/11 should have given us pause to reflect upon the foreign policies of America.
 
There is a perverse dichotomy in play here in that Osama bin Laden can assume the role of the hate-filled Seventh Cavalry or that of the oppressed member of an occupied nation. In the aftermath of historic occurrences, he is probably both.
 
I may be pilloried for suggesting that Osama bin Laden was actually offering a solution to an unsolvable problem, but I, and many other indigenous people, believe it to be so. Perhaps there was not a hidden message there, but suppose he was suggesting a solution? Was he asking the American people to communicate with the Muslim people one on one, people to people?
 
A war goes on in Iraq and people are dying. Saddam Hussein was a dictator of the worst order and people died needlessly under his regime. But was the United States justified in attacking a nation and killing thousands upon thousands of innocent Muslims in order to set them free? When the Shiite rebelled shortly after the first Gulf War, America had a chance to fell Saddam with the support of the majority of Muslims but did nothing to support the Shiites.
 
It should be noted that many of the graves discovered by the Americans after the second invasion contained the bodies of those Shiites who rebelled against Saddam. Without the support of America or the coalition forces the Shiites were slaughtered by the thousands. The rebellion was squelched.
 
Osama bin Laden is looked upon as that beast with the blood of 3,000 people on his hands. Any utterance from him is deemed contemptible. But I believe that all Americans are tired of living under the threat of more terror. Is this a permanent condition or one with a cure?
 
In the supposed civilized world of 2004 surely men and women of intelligence, compassion and forgiveness can come together with those who would threaten our very existence and find solutions. I know that you can’t negotiate with terrorists, but why is America their target?
 
America became a great nation by slaughtering and terrorizing its indigenous people. After more than 500 years of terrorism, the indigenous people saw their way to forgive. The first step on the road to forgiveness was communication. Without dialogue there are no solutions.
 
If the message from Osama bin Laden is that we must find new ways to communicate in order to prevent future acts of terrorism, should we listen to that message?
 
Oftentimes the solutions to the most complex of problems are found in the most simple of messages. An old Mohawk saying goes, "You cannot see the future with tears in your eyes." The same may be said of hatred.
 
 
 
(Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the author of The Aboriginal Sin, published by the Indian Historian Press, Inc. in 1978. He can be reached at giagobooks@iw.net)
 
 
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