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Bin Laden Tape: Gloom & Doom (Stratfor)
Stratfor ^ | 1/7/04 | Stratfor

Posted on 01/07/2004 7:56:10 PM PST by fourhorsemen

THE STRATFOR WEEKLY 07 January 2004

Bin Laden Tape: Honesty and Gloom

Summary

The release of a new tape by Osama bin Laden is always an important event. The most recent one is particularly important because of the tone it takes. It is far from resigned, but it is a gloomy analysis of al Qaeda's situation, focusing on the failure of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to resist the United States. Al Qaeda has a great deal to be gloomy about. Events were very much moving in its favor since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But December was a terrible month for al Qaeda: The United States began to gain control over the insurrection, and the diplomatic situation in the region began to shift in the U.S. favor. Al Qaeda has a problem and is searching for a solution.

Analysis

Osama bin Laden released a new audio tape during the week of Jan. 5. It was different in tone and focus than prior tapes. The focus was less on the United States, Israel or Kashmir than on the Arab world in general and the Arabian Peninsula in particular. The tone was bleak and filled with anger at betrayal by Arab rulers. It represents an honest assessment of the war from al Qaeda's view, and it reveals the war is not going well for them.

Among the things bin Laden said:

O Muslims: The situation is serious and the misfortune is momentous. By God, I am keen on safeguarding your religion and your worldly life. So, lend me your ears and open up your hearts to me so that we may examine these pitch-black misfortunes and so that we may consider how we can find a way out of these adversities and calamities....

These (Gulf) states came to America's help and backed it in its attack against an Arab state which is bound to them with covenants of joint defense agreement ... they finally submitted and succumbed to U.S. pressure and opened their air, land and sea bases to contribute toward the U.S. campaign, despite the immense repercussions of this move. Most important of these repercussions is that this is a sin against one of the Islamic tenets...

Based on the above, the extent of the real danger -- which the region in general and the Arabian Peninsula in particular is being exposed to -- has appeared. It has become clear that the rulers are not qualified to apply the religion and defend the Muslims. In fact, they have provided evidence that they are implementing the schemes of the enemies of the nation and religion and that they are qualified to abandon the countries and peoples.

This is the essential tone of the entire statement: A serious misfortune has befallen the Islamic world. The responsibility rests with Arab rulers in general and on Saudi Arabia in particular. It was their collaboration with the United States that created these "pitch-black misfortunes" and forced al Qaeda to search for a way out of the "adversities and calamities." It is far from a declaration of surrender, but it is also far from the defiant triumphalism of earlier statements.

To understand bin Laden's mood, it is important to look at the war from a strategic standpoint. The United States mounted an effective invasion of Iraq, using Kuwait as a base of operations, and with the overt or covert cooperation of all other contiguous Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia. The United States was surprised by the coherence and tempo of operations of the Iraqi guerrillas, but the insurrection never moved outside the country's Sunni areas in any substantial way and therefore was confined to a relatively small part of Iraq. Even in this region, after several months of indecisive and ineffective action, the United States mounted a counteroffensive after Ramadan that resulted in a substantial decline in guerrilla operations north of Baghdad, and a much less intense tempo of operations in Baghdad and to the west.

Iraq's internal politics also have moved in an unsatisfactory direction. The majority Shia, in a vague alliance with the Kurds, have not so much supported the United States as opposed the Sunnis. They also have no use for the foreign jihadists moving into Iraq. They are prepared to cooperate with the Americans, exchanging support now for control of the government later. The Sunni sheikhs, observing the deterioration of the guerrillas' military situation, are repositioning themselves, making deals with the Americans. The prospect of Shiite domination without any U.S. goodwill cushioning that process is more frightening to the Sunnis than the guerrilla movement. Therefore, the Baathist guerrilla movement is under severe pressure, while the foreign jihadists operating without the Baathists have no roots in Iraq, nor does the Sunni leadership welcome them. Therefore, al Qaeda's hope of bogging down the United States in Iraq as they bogged down the Soviets in Afghanistan is disappearing.

The broader strategic situation is even more unsatisfactory. Al Qaeda was hoping that Sept. 11 would trigger a massive rising among the Islamic masses, toppling regimes that were collaborating with the United States and forcing others to change their policies. That simply hasn't happened. Some expected the invasion of Iraq to generate a massive upheaval in the Islamic world. It didn't. Whatever the feelings of the Islamic masses, they have not translated into a massive political moment.

Quite the contrary: The movement in the Islamic world has been toward collaboration with the United States. The most important case is Iran, which has been moving toward such an alignment since September 2003, in a process that broke into public view after the earthquake in Bam. The Iraqi Shiite leadership has generally close ties to Iran, forged during years of exile and struggle against Saddam Hussein. Their accommodation with the United States and participation in the Iraqi Governing Council would not have taken place without Iran's approval. Iran's interests are geopolitical. The United States, seeking a solution to the Iraqi guerrilla war, induced Iranian-Shiite cooperation by promising a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq that certainly would be, if not a satellite, a buffer on Iran's western flank.

The Iranian shift increased Saudi Arabia's dependence upon the United States. Saudi Arabia's nightmare is Iran as the dominant regional power without a Saudi security guarantee from the United States. That is precisely the direction events were going this past fall. Saudi Arabia grudgingly accommodated the United States before the war. Afterward, as the guerrilla movement intensified in Iraq, the United States turned to Iran, further eroding Saudi security. As this process took place, the Saudis had to move against al Qaeda in the kingdom. This was a fundamental U.S. goal in its invasion of Iraq. It did not happen quite the way the United States might have wanted it, but it did happen. The Saudis and the other Gulf states have moved aggressively to accommodate U.S. interests -- including attacking al Qaeda throughout the region.

The avalanche of bad news did not stop there. Libya, fully aware of the trends in the region, decided this was a propitious time to move closer to the United States. In the Arab world, only Syria remained outside the process. The Syrians had badly misread the situation during last summer, betting that the United States would get bogged down in Iraq. They bet on the guerrillas. Suddenly, as December wore on, they realized that they had not only guessed wrong, but had become completely isolated in the Arab world and surrounded on all sides by enemies. Damascus began to make accommodating gestures as the New Year began, inviting Likud Knesset members to Damascus and sending President Bashar al-Assad off to Turkey.

In Pakistan, jihadists tried -- and failed -- twice to kill President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. The danger to Musharraf's life did not prevent him from reaching out to India in a peace process, nor did the attempts trigger a military or popular rising against him. Al Qaeda knows that the culminating battle of the war will be waged in northwestern Pakistan when U.S. forces go after Osama bin Laden and his command cells. They must topple Musharraf to generate a major obstacle to U.S. plans. Therefore, the jihadists must get Musharraf. So far, they have failed.

At the moment, nothing is going al Qaeda's way. That does not mean al Qaeda is defeated. The war isn't over 'til it's over, and as the United States is showing in Iraq, reversals in war are common; the measure of victory is how quickly and effectively one adjusts to the reality and creates a new strategy. Al Qaeda has clearly lost the first round; it is readying for the second.

This second round appears to consist of two parts. One has been clearly defined: Al Qaeda will try to bring down the Saudi government. Riyadh's assault on al Qaeda certainly has hurt the group, but it has not destroyed it. The Wahhabi zeal -- which has fueled al Qaeda -- has its home in Saudi Arabia and is deeply rooted there. Opposition to the Saudi regime is not trivial. Whether al Qaeda can overthrow the regime is unclear, but bin Laden's statements make it clear that this is where his focus will be.

There is then the question of an attack on the United States. Bin Laden concedes that Sept. 11 failed to achieve al Qaeda's strategic goals. In fact, events since then have moved in just the opposite direction. The problem was the lack of political preparation in the Islamic world. The weakness among Arab regimes generally and Saudi Arabia particularly meant that the U.S. response -- rather than triggering massive anti-American resistance -- resulted in broad-based collaboration.

Another attack on the United States on the same order as Sept. 11 is not likely to succeed either, since collaboration has intensified. Given that al Qaeda does not intend simply to kill Americans, but rather to achieve political goals in the Islamic world by killing Americans, an attack at this moment squanders resources without achieving the wanted goal. At the same time, al Qaeda must demonstrate that it has a way out of the "pitch-black misfortunes" that have befallen it. It must do something, and do it quickly. Overthrowing the Saudi regime is not going to happen soon.

From a strictly strategic viewpoint, al Qaeda should postpone attacking the United States until it can reshape the politics of the Saudi peninsula. From a political viewpoint, the more impotent al Qaeda appears, the less its chances to achieve that political redefinition. It is caught in a chicken-or-egg problem -- and time, most definitely, is not on al Qaeda's side.

One solution would be what we would call a trans-Sept. 11 attack -- an attack that dwarfed Sept. 11 in significance. Obviously a nuclear, biological or chemical attack designed to cause enormous casualties would be such an attack and potentially -- and we emphasize potentially -- would accomplish two things. It might reinvigorate al Qaeda in the Islamic world by reinforcing its capabilities and competence -- neither is highly respected at the moment -- thus contributing to the political reality bin Laden spoke of. Second, it might -- in al Qaeda's mind -- convince the American public that the price of fighting al Qaeda is too high. There is a risk, of course. The Islamic masses might well take the same course that followed Sept. 11: vigorous conversation coupled with inaction, and the American public might want blood instead of withdrawal.

A serious question is whether al Qaeda can pull off a trans-Sept. 11 attack. It might be forced to go for a Sept. 11-type attack because that is the best available. Or, alternatively, it might decide to avoid any attacks in the United States, opting instead to focus resources on the struggle in Saudi Arabia and on bringing down Musharraf in Pakistan.

These are some of al Qaeda's choices. Which it will choose is an open question. What is clear is that al Qaeda is at a crossroads and -- like the United States in the spring of 2002 -- it does not have really good choices, and therefore, must choose the best of a bad lot. Al Qaeda's original war plan is obsolete. The straight line it drew from Sept. 11 to the Caliphate has hit a wall. Bin Laden knows it. He doesn't have a good Plan B, but he will have to cook one up anyway. The war is not over, but for the moment, it is al Qaeda's turn to sweat out a solution to a difficult strategic problem. If they can't do that, then the war could very well be over, at least for this generation.

======================= (c) 2003 Strategic Forecasting, Inc. All rights reserved.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; binlade; binladen; globaljihad; stratfor; threat; threats; waronterror
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Very interesting appraisel of the current situation of Al Qaeda.
1 posted on 01/07/2004 7:56:13 PM PST by fourhorsemen
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To: All
Here we go again folks... why not donate now and help get this fundraiser over with!
2 posted on 01/07/2004 7:57:41 PM PST by Support Free Republic (I'd rather be sleeping. Let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep!)
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To: fourhorsemen
How do you say in Arabic, "Gee folks, things just ain't working out like we thought they would".
3 posted on 01/07/2004 8:03:10 PM PST by U S Army EOD (When the EOD technician screws up, he is always the first to notice.)
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To: fourhorsemen; marron; Grampa Dave; seamole; blam; Sabertooth; aristeides; archy; okie01; ...
Big picture bump.
4 posted on 01/07/2004 8:04:05 PM PST by Shermy
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To: fourhorsemen
Man, when I saw "doom and gloom," I thought of certain freepers.

My bad!
5 posted on 01/07/2004 8:04:59 PM PST by MonroeDNA (Soros is the enemy.)
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To: U S Army EOD; marron
They were a bit confused.

Saudi/AQ's wished-for enemy is also their best customer.

And the customer is always right...

6 posted on 01/07/2004 8:05:56 PM PST by Shermy
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To: fourhorsemen
Last month the level of attacks against the Royal Family in Saudi Arabia escalated sharply and suddenly. I seriously thought civil war had some there finally after all those years of the House of Saud walking a fine line between the fundamentalists and the majority of Saudis.

That seemed to die down very quickly...the Saudis can act quickly and brutality when pressed. I'm wondering just how much damage Al Qaeda suffered in Saudi Arabia.

7 posted on 01/07/2004 8:06:28 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: U S Army EOD; fourhorsemen
Al Qaeda has a problem and is searching for a solution.

Analysis: "We're cleanin' Allah's closet.

8 posted on 01/07/2004 8:06:54 PM PST by BOBTHENAILER (One by one, in small groups or in whole armies, we don't care how we do, but we're gonna getcha)
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To: fourhorsemen
Second, it might -- in al Qaeda's mind -- convince the American public that the price of fighting al Qaeda is too high.

These people are stupid -- they need to realize that another attack will only make our resolve stronger, and our vengeance more bloody. If they really want the US public to quit fighting them, they need to quit attacking and threatening us. Then, after a while, the US public will lose interest....

9 posted on 01/07/2004 8:07:08 PM PST by expatpat
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To: fourhorsemen
There is a risk, of course. The Islamic masses might well take the same course that followed Sept. 11: vigorous conversation coupled with inaction, and the American public might want blood instead of withdrawal.

And blood they would get. If al Queda manages to pull off a "Trans 911" attack on the United States the gloves would come off. Both Syria and Iran would be well advised to prepare for war and the manhunt for bin Laden would be intense and would honor no national boundries.

10 posted on 01/07/2004 8:18:18 PM PST by InterceptPoint
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To: fourhorsemen
Outstanding analysis...and I think spot on...we must be vigilant as their need for a big splash coincides with our election cycle...
11 posted on 01/07/2004 8:18:24 PM PST by Keith
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To: expatpat; section9; Nick Danger; blam; Howlin; Dog Gone; RJayneJ; Lazamataz
"If they really want the US public to quit fighting them, they need to quit attacking and threatening us. Then, after a while, the US public will lose interest..."

Precisely. War is our strong suit. On the other hand, if Bin Laden comes forward publicly, apologizes, denounces violence, and begs for forgiveness, dissent against our War on Terror would be legion.

At that point Osama could retreat back into the private confines of maddrassas, teaching rampant hate and violence, while all the time preaching love and forgiveness in public. In 20 years we'd be caught off-guard again.

Thus, it is the *peaceful* Osama who threatens us the most. The violent, war-mongering Bin Laden who we all know is a weak paper tiger. We can crush his forces everywhere they mass and every time they are spotted, without exception. In contrast, if Osama manages to move this war *away* from open contests of arms into a public relations debate, we've got trouble.

12 posted on 01/07/2004 8:20:56 PM PST by Southack (Media bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: fourhorsemen
The only thing bin laden is going to do is get more muslims killed!
13 posted on 01/07/2004 8:28:43 PM PST by KingNo155
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To: Southack
Very insightful, I hope Osama doesn't read your post.

and I'm saying that in all seriousness

14 posted on 01/07/2004 8:32:58 PM PST by BOBTHENAILER (One by one, in small groups or in whole armies, we don't care how we do, but we're gonna getcha)
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To: fourhorsemen
The Islamic masses might well take the same course that followed Sept. 11: vigorous conversation coupled with inaction, and the American public might want blood instead of withdrawal.

Might want blood? There's no might about it. The gloves would come completely off.

No, I think Al Qaeda will strike where it thinks there will be no retaliation. I think they will strike france.

15 posted on 01/07/2004 8:38:11 PM PST by McGavin999 (Don't be a Freeploader-Have you donated yet?)
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To: McGavin999
I'd give your guess the top odds if I were running a Vegas casino.
16 posted on 01/07/2004 8:42:48 PM PST by Southack (Media bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: fourhorsemen
The Islamic masses might well take the same course that followed Sept. 11: vigorous conversation coupled with inaction, and the American public might want blood instead of withdrawal.

I can absolutely guarantee the latter. And that would inevitably result in this:

Al Qaeda knows that the culminating battle of the war will be waged in northwestern Pakistan when U.S. forces go after Osama bin Laden and his command cells.

...as I think it will. Al-Qaeda overplayed its hand in the Saudi and the Pakistan bombings, the former to tell their erstwhile paymasters that the deal had changed and the gloves were off, the latter to forestall American intervention in northwestern Pakistan. Neither succeeded, and in fact served to hasten that intervention rather than forestall it. If Special Forces operations haven't already commenced there they will very soon.

On a peripheral but no less important note, I do think that the Iranians are playing for control of the nascent Iraq government. They should be careful what they wish for. The Shi'ites in Iraq are co-religionists, to be sure, but they are also not necessarily pro-Persian, and there are significant Iranian anti-government guerrilla forces in Iraq at the moment as well. The Iranian mullahs are playing for control of little brother to the west; I wonder if they've considered that little brother has his own game and might just be playing for control...of them.

17 posted on 01/07/2004 8:48:33 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Southack
The key, at this time, is to knock Bin Ladin off. Others may follow but at least we are rid of him.
18 posted on 01/07/2004 8:54:02 PM PST by blackbart.223
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To: fourhorsemen
Excellent analysis by Stratfor.
19 posted on 01/07/2004 8:58:03 PM PST by Skywarner (Freedom isn't Free. Remember our WWII vets!)
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To: Keith
I agree.

And Osama's last did sound "gloomy"...a bit frustrated, and at least tempered in his aspirations

No Timor, etc.

I wonder where Stratfor thinks Osama is. My bet, some lodging in Iran tightly controlled by some radical segment of the Iranian govt.
20 posted on 01/07/2004 9:07:21 PM PST by Shermy
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