Many Muslims across the world who were at the receiving end of global repression like the Israeli apartheid Zionist policy, fell in love with Osamah Bin Laden especially after reading for the first time his now infamous fatwa, entitled “Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places”, a 30-page strong warning issued in Arabic (also translated into English, and other languages) on August 24, 1996.
Many who are not comfortable with America’s double standard and unfair policies in the Middle East, especially Palestine quickly saw Osamah and his Al-Qaeda network as messianic. Of course, Osamah, together with the Afghanistan Taliban were for well over a decade, trained, funded, armed and supported by the US to overthrow the communist government in the 70s which led to an end of the then Soviet Union’s influence and control of Afghanistan in 1989.
Back then, to the US government, the Taliban were ‘mujahideen’ (freedom fighters), who were provided with billions of dollars in funding, training, arms and ammunition, but the two once ‘jolly good fellows’ became enemies when Osamah and Afghanistan Taliban realised they had been used and dumped by the US. So, the so-called Freedom Fighters suddenly became the Most Wanted Terrorists by the US years later.
Many who also supported Bin Laden’s fight against the imperialists were however disappointed after the pogrom of the September 11, 2001 on World Trade Centre, which claimed thousands of innocent lives.
Muslims or non-Muslims, killing of innocent lives can never be justified, no matter! Islam preaches strongly against such evil act. Even though Osamah didn’t officially claim responsibility like Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) or Boko Haram would do today, many Muslim individuals and organisations began withdrawing their support and changing their positions/views and understanding about Osamah’s style of Jihad, which saw nothing wrong in killing innocent civilians, similar to what Israeli’ military, the Mossad, are doing to Palestinians with the active support of US and seeming helplessness of the UN, before he was reportedly killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.
The killing of Osamah 10 years ago however didn’t end the war on terror, rather, gave birth to more dreaded terrorist organisations who continue to hide under the banner and engage in identity theft to wreak havoc on innocent civilians, simply because the state actors haven’t fairly addressed the injustices against the oppressed Muslims in Palestine, Royingha, Kashmir, etc, which the so-called terrorists have always been used as smokescreen for their barbaric actions.
