Is Bin Laden's Jihad against the USA Possible?

By Paul Separk, Jr.

October 2001

In light of the recent terrorist attacks in America and our military response in Afghanistan (and probably soon to be other targets as well in other areas), a logical question is: what can we expect now?

Yesterday, in a video released to an Arabic TV station, Osama bin Laden called for Muslims everywhere to join the Jihad (Holy War) against the infidels (the USA and other Western Nations). According to bin Laden, there are two sides to choose from: either "the side of faith or the side of the infidels." Will there be a Jihad? Will there be more terrorism? Is this a war America and the allies can win? What will come of the multi-national coalition in the days and weeks to come? Where does all this fit into God's Prophetic clock? There are so many questions and we'll look at a few of them today in this special addition of LIJCA' Online Newsletter.

First, we'll look at the possibility of Jihad (Holy War) against America by Islam. Currently, Bin Laden and his group, Al-Qaeda, are considered to be a band of crazy, fanatical holy warriors on the fringe of Islam. Western leaders are quick to say that our response to terrorism is not an attack on Islam, that they respect Islam, but that Bin Laden and his followers do not represent "true" Islam. On several points, I beg to differ. Osama bin Laden and his group may be a bit vocal and visual about what they do, but actually their beliefs and worldview are not that different from the ones of rank and file Moslems around the world. If bin Laden is just a quack among his faith, lets look at how others in the Islamic world are reacting to all this via today's headlines:

"ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Oct. 8) - Enraged by strikes on Afghanistan, thousands of supporters of its Taliban regime burned buildings, battled police and demanded holy war against America on Monday. Two U.N. offices were among the targets...Authorities in Quetta uncorked tear gas and fired live ammunition into the air to repel 4,000 agitated demonstrators who torched five movie theaters, damaged a bank and burned the police station....'To all Muslims around the world: Prepare yourselves for jihad,'' said Maulana Noor Mohammed, the provincial head of the religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam....The overwhelming majority of Pakistan's 145 million people are Muslim, and Islamic religious parties have strongly condemned U.S. moves against Afghanistan for harboring Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States....In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, a mob of 400 students set three buses aflame and pelted authorities with stones. At least eight were injured when police charged them with batons and tear gas....In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, a mob of 400 students set three buses aflame and pelted authorities with stones. At least eight were injured when police charged them with batons and tear gas...In northwestern Peshawar, both tear gas and steel-tipped sticks were used to scatter 2,000 Taliban supporters as they emerged from a mosque and began to protest. Police opened fire on several hundred demonstrators in the border town of Landikotal when they tried to stage a pro-Taliban rally. Four people were reported injured, but the extent of - and reason for - their injuries were unclear."

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has been supportive of the US led effort, but Pakistan is a hot bed for Islam and with the violent protest breaking out there, many directed against Musharraf as well, may only be a matter of time before he has to cave into religious pressure or either be removed from power which could see the ushering in of an Islamic extremist government, similar to the Taliban, in Pakistan complete with a formidable military complete with nuclear weapons. What an awful prospect for the US if they joined in bin Laden's Jihad against the Western nations.

JERUSALEM Reuters (Oct. 8) "....In Palestinian-ruled Gaza, police firing live bullets and teargas clashed with thousands marching in support of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, who has espoused the Palestinian cause and threatened the United States, Israel's guardian ally. At least four people were wounded at the demonstration called by the militant Islamic group Hamas in defiance of a Palestinian Authority ban, witnesses said. 'Hamas hails bin Laden,' protesters chanted. Hamas suicide bombers have killed dozens of Israelis during a year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation....The Palestinian Authority, which condemned last month's attacks in New York and Washington, withheld official reaction to Sunday's air strikes on Afghanistan..."

Again, we have 1000s of Palestinian Moslems in the streets supporting bin Laden and denouncing the US. The so-called Palestinian Authority is silent on the issue thus amounting to "unofficial" support of bin Laden as well. After the 9/11 attacks, Palestinians celebrated in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza. It would be no surprise that Palestinians would gladly have plenty in their ranks who'd be willing to give up their lives, much like the terrorists who plotted the Sept. 11th acts, in Jihad against the "great Satan" (the US and its allies).

CAIRO, Oct 8 (Reuters) -" Thousands of Egyptian students protested against U.S. retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan on Monday, and some called the attacks a "war against Islam," security sources and student organizers said. Security sources said more than 20,000 students protested against the attacks at nine universities in northern Egypt and Cairo while security forces stood by outside the campuses to keep the protests from spilling over into the streets...Hazem Tawfiq, an organizer, told Reuters the students, who burnt U.S. and Israeli flags, urged the government to expel the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors from Cairo, allow a Jihad, or holy struggle, and demanded the formation of an Islamic military alliance. Egypt has made no official comment on the attacks, but President Hosni Mubarak had said previously he supported the 'fight against terrorism.' Street protests are rare in Egypt, a nation of 67 million people where authorities are wary of civil unrest and tend to move quickly to contain tensions between the communities...'U.S. go to hell, Afghanis will prevail,' students shouted at Alexandria University. "Bush Bush, you mean man, the blood of Muslims is not cheap," another slogan said..."

So now we have 1000s in Egypt calling the US actions a "war against Islam." Sounds like these university students are quite willing to join the Jihad as well. Remember, today's university students are tomorrows leaders. What a chilling thought.

TEHRAN, Oct 8 (Reuters) - "Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday condemned U.S. strikes on neighboring Afghanistan, saying the raids would kill innocent civilians and turn thousands into refugees....'We condemn the attack on the country and the people of Afghanistan,' state television showed Khamenei telling clerics at the prayer hall at his residence in central Tehran. 'Death to America, death to Israel,' the congregation chanted. 'How is this oppression justified, how can you allow innocent civilians to be killed or injured and many more to be forced to leave their homes to take refuge in the wilderness, starving without food?' Khamenei asked.... Khamenei said Washington's aim was not to combat terrorism. 'Terrorism is only an excuse,' he said. 'Why don't they announce their real intention -- their motivation for grabbing more power, for imperialism. 'Since when has it become the norm to send troops to another country and to hit its cities with missiles and aerial bombardment because of so-called terrorism in that country?'..."

Iran is a Shiite Moslem nation, which differ from the Sunni views of bin Laden, but in a common cause, it appears likely that many in Iran would be willing to join in on the Jihad as well.

LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Iraq, itself a frequent target for U.S. and British warplanes, described U.S.-British air strikes on Afghanistan on Sunday as "treacherous aggression." "The U.S.-British planes waged a treacherous aggression against Afghanistan this evening," an announcer said on Iraqi television, monitored by the BBC. "The Afghan ground defenses confronted the enemy planes." On Thursday Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Aldouri, said during a debate on terrorism that Israel and the United States were guilty of "state terrorism." 'We cannot consider the legitimate struggle of the people of the world against sanctions and American and British colonial aggression as terrorism,' Aldouri said.

We know all to well that Iraq, led by the sinister Saddam Hussein, would be in the front lines of any global Jihad effort by bin Laden.

RABAT, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Moroccan Islamist groups on Monday condemned what they described as an aggression by the United States on poor Muslims in Afghanistan and warned of street protests against the overnight air strikes. "America's war machine has begun a clear aggression on poor Muslim people of Afghanistan to punish them for a crime that was committed by a small group," Mustapha Ramid, coordinator of the Nationalist Islamic Congress (NIC) told Reuters. Ramid was referring to Osama bin Laden's group which has been named by Washington as the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed around 5,500 people...More than 300,000 demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Rabat in February 1991 to protest against Morocco's support for the U.S.-led coalition's strikes on Baghdad."

It is important to note the 300,000 plus radicals in Morocco who came out for Iraq would be willing to come out for bin Laden's Jihad as well.

Other important facts to consider are:

* The Taliban rules Afghanistan and they are in full support of the Jihad against the USA.

* Our "good friend" Saudi Arabia, has refused the USA use of our military bases there in the hunting down of bin Laden and in our response to terrorism.

* Many Islamic countries practice official and unofficial persecution of Christians. In certain Islamic countries, Christianity is even banned.

So, judging from the mood of the Islamic world, we can conclude that a real full fledged Jihad is certainly not out of the question and, in all likelihood, will occur at some point in the near future if it has not already begun.

We can certainly expect more terrorism. Just today we learned of an Italian jet that crashed into a building killing 114 people. Of course, officials are saying this is merely an accident with no connections to terrorism but it is really too early to determine that. The FBI has told law enforcement agencies across the country to be on "the highest alert" and the State Department has warned Americans about safety issues regarding travel in foreign countries. The events of Sept. 11th, are, in all probability, the first wave in a trend of terrorism that will strike the US. We shouldn't be fooled by a sense of false security just because we drop a few bombs on Afghanistan. This is going to be a long, hard campaign and it is indeed a war.

As to whether or not we can win this war, it depends on many factors. We shouldn't be overcome with a false sense of security just because we have a huge military arsenal that we can easily defeat this threat. We have never been in a war quite like this. Russia couldn't even win in Afghanistan and they were a super power at the time. It will take more than simply barrage of aircraft, tomahawk cruise missiles and the like. It'll take special forces units and other attack forces to root out threats and cells. It'll take a vast intelligence network and measures to make it harder for terrorists to penetrate our society.

What will happen with the American led coalition? It is doubtful that, other than a very few token NATO nations, that the US will be able to lead this international coalition for a protracted period of time. Just this morning the US is warning the UN Security Council that it may need to hit other countries and groups in this anti-terrorism war. The broader the war becomes and the longer it goes on, the more the US will lose support of many of the coalition countries. Any actions requiring a lot of big equipment should be done quickly and effectively. But due to the nature of this new war, it will not be a quick thing and that, I believe, will set the tone for the erosion of international support for the US coalition.

Now, to tie all this into Bible Prophecy, we know from God's work that, in the end times, perilous times will come. Matthew chapter 24 tells us about the wars and rumors of wars. This also means an up rise in terrorism. We read of famines, diseases, and false religion. We have this now and Jesus describes this stage as the "birth pains" stage. Many ask "is bin Laden the anti christ?" The answer is NO. He certainly has the spirit of anti-Christ but doesn't meet the biblical qualifications of the person of the end time world ruler. The anti -Christ is going to be, as the Bible says, "from the people who destroyed the temple" and that means he'll be of Roman descent (any of the countries from the Roman Empire). For a detailed account of these prophecies, see our section on the Rapture (People Disappear and You're Left Behind..."). We don't know when the Rapture will take place. No event has to now happen for the Rapture to occur. We do need to be ready and continue to go about doing the Lord's work. That means reading God's word daily, praying daily and presenting ourselves daily as living witnesses of Christ's amazing love for us. May God be with us all during these times.

In Jesus,

Paul Separk, Jr.

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UPDATE APRIL 02, 2003

It has been a year and a half since I wrote the above article. Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network are still around and we are currently a couple of weeks into Operation Iraqi Freedom. It looks as if the US and it's coalition forces will be busy for the next few months. By all accounts the US should win this war but there are a lot of uncertainties that we'll have to watch. 

     With all that has happened in the past year and a half we come back to the original question: Is Bin Laden's Jihad against the USA possible? The terror alert has been high many times since the Homeland Security agency has been put into place. There have been many terrorist incidents around the world that have been credited to Al-Qaeda. In 2002 and 2003, there have also been explosions at a gas port in NYC, some strange fires in nightclubs, several fires at chemical and pharmaceutical  plants and other strange occurrences that officials just chalk up as coincidences. The Jihad is still very much a possibility. The Arab world does not see the USA and the coalition as liberators. They see us as imperialists waged in a war against Islam. So-called Christian nations engaged in a modern day Crusade against them. Ironically, the Muslims have turned this around, because, indeed, the true Crusades are being waged against Christians and the West in the form of an Islamic "Jihad" or Holy War. Stay tuned to Life In Jesus Christian Assembly for more updates to this thread in the coming days and weeks ahead.

In Jesus,

Paul <><

UPDATE 7-29-03

It has been nearly 4 months since I have updated this article. U.S. officials said yesterday that they have learned of credible threats of possible new airline suicide hijackings by terrorists planned for the latter part of the summer by Al-Qaeda. It seems they are still planning on using airplanes to do their damage. Hopefully the proper agencies will clamp down hard on security to prevent these attacks but it is impossible to be everywhere all the time and it is possible that these barbarians can "slip through the cracks" and launch other horrific attacks on our soil and elsewhere. Just look at the attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Morocco in May. Bin Laden continues to show he is alive and well and so is his Jihad against the Christian west.

According to MSNBC, the News of the threat comes in the busy summer travel season, a situation not lost on federal officials who face the difficult task of warning the public without further damaging the troubled airline industry. The airlines have lost $18 billion in the past two years, and they have argued that increased security costs, along with higher fuel costs and the war with Iraq, have contributed to the damage. Security in general has cost countless billions of dollars, so the Jihad is certainly having an effect on the economy as has the entire "war on terror." We'll need to continue to watch this situation. Stay tuned for further updates.

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