Letnik 9/2, september 2007 - Slovenska vojska

Andrew Nichols Pratt
was still brought up in a life of heady privilege. Like most of his companions, Bin
Laden was spoiled, sexually frustrated and bored silly. Although he grew up in the
most fundamentalist and conservative Islamic country in the world, he is reputed to
have enjoyed the nightlife of Beirut. Its famous Kornish district was the real Mecca
for many exasperated desert youths and their “Airport Wahhabi” friends. Even
today, Hamra Street offers alcohol, gratuitous sex, excitement and always a little
violence.
Early on, Bin Laden appeared to be very non-confrontational; however, in 1979,
the year he graduated from King Abdul-Azziz University, the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution began. His life took a radical turn. Bin
Laden was enraged by the Soviet repression of the Afghans and his own country’s
indifference. As with the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and the fall of Jerusalem into
Israeli hands, the Soviet invasion appeared to be yet another in a succession of
divine punishments for those straying from the ordained path of Islam. As we now
know from many sources, Bin Laden spent the next five years raising money and
recruiting ‘volunteers’ to fight against the infidel Soviets.
In an effort to be closer to the action and aid the fighters, he moved to Peshawar
about 1984. His guesthouse, Bait ul’ Ansar, was the first way station of “Arab”
Mujahideen when they came to Afghanistan before going to the front or beginning
training. Bin Laden also crossed into Afghanistan to oversee the delivery of
construction machinery, which he placed at the disposal of the Afghans to dig
tunnels and prepare ordnance storage areas. Bin Laden started spending more
and more time in Afghanistan. Not content as a spectator, he wanted to train
and command his own fighters, thus he created his own unit in order to direct
their battles. His first and last face-to-face encounter with the Soviet army, using
pure Arab personnel, was at Jaji and according to independent accounts, was a
military disaster. 2 What most Westerners do not appreciate is that the real fighters,
the simple, oppressed Afghans, scorned the “Internationalists,” “Wahhabi’s” or
“Arabs” as they were described in casual conversation. To gain a sense of their
cynical contempt, one needs only to read interviews with some of the Mujahideen’s
most successful commanders in The Other Side of the Mountain. The Arabs, for
the most part, enjoyed posing for war pictures, videotaping the “Great Game,”
and generally role-playing. During one particularly sharp engagement on the
Afghan-Pakistan border, an Arab unit was begged to reinforce the beleaguered
2
Marc Sageman, author of “Understanding Terror Network.” Dr. Sageman was a CIA case officer in Pakistan and
had direct contact with the Afghan Mujahidin during the Soviet occupation.
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