Messiah Pretension:
Bin Laden's Ultimate Objective

Bin Laden saw himself as called "to follow in the footsteps of the Messenger and to communicate his message to all nations," and to serve as the rallying point and organizer for a new kind of war to destroy America and bring the world to Islam. (The 9/11 Commission Report)

     It should not have been a surprise when at the turn of the millennium a man created the world's strongest army and began a world war to destroy an empire he identified as the Great Satan. Prevalent in cultures across the world is the myth of the Millennial Messiah of the Apocalypse, a future revolutionary leader who arrives at the onset of a millennium to destroy Satan and establish God's Kingdom on earth. From among the billions of people indoctrinated into this age-old myth, we might expect at least one megalomaniacal psyche to emerge and imitate this prophesized account so well as to convince a large flock that he is this awaited "paragon" of humanity. By his own utterances and actions, Bin Laden has clearly confirmed that he is one such psyche whose overriding ambition is to portray the central player in humanity's greatest drama, the Messiah of the Apocalypse. The 9/11 War is the game of a depraved Saudi prince.

     With painstaking detail, Bin Laden has sculpted his public persona to mirror mainstream Islam's contemporary vision of the awaited Muslim Messiah. This mythological character, known as the Mahdi, is distinctively portrayed in universally accepted Sunni Muslim scriptures on the Apocalypse. Bin Laden's precise imitation of the following characteristics and achievements has provided the theological "proof" for his implicit claim that he is the prophesized Mahdi.

1. The Mahdi establishes a global stateless empire that wages an Islamic holy war against a Great Satan empire engaged in an unparalleled oppression of Muslims worldwide. (Bin Laden has established the global stateless terrorist empire of Al Qaeda, controlled by a central command currently based in Pakistan. For fifteen years, Bin Laden has been waging an Islamic holy war against the "Great Satan" of the Muslim world. In 2001, Bin Laden finally achieved his goal of inciting America to launch a war that is widely perceived as an unparalleled oppression of Muslims. Having first constructed his imitative empire, Bin Laden completed the public portrayal of the Apocalypse story by covertly provoking America to portray the Great Satan, baiting an oil-hungry president into launching the American neo-conservative crusade in the Middle East.)
   
   
2. In addition to the defensive conflict against the Great Satan, the Mahdi also wages an offensive conflict to rule the world by military force. This enlightened rule ushers in a golden age for Islam, founded on a geopolitical revolution that establishes a worldwide totalitarian theocracy to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor and enforce the Mahdi's puritanical religious doctrine onto humanity. (In addition to the defensive conflict against the "Great Satan" America, Al Qaeda's stated goal is to wage an offensive military conflict in order to establish a worldwide totalitarian theocracy that rules the world through nuclear terrorism. This revolutionary new world order is intended to initiate a golden age for Islam based on a redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor and the forced conversion of humanity to Al Qaeda's puritanical religious doctrine.)
   
   
3. The Mahdi launches his global war against the "Great Satan" at the start of a new millennium. (In meticulous imitation of the myth of the Millennial Messiah, Bin Laden launched his global war against the "Great Satan" America at the start of the new millennium. After having escalated his terrorist attacks against America on the eve of the third millennium, including an attempt to provoke his global war in the opening seconds of the widely anticipated new millennium*, Bin Laden succeeded in igniting a global war against America in the first year of the new millennium. These provocations included (1) the thwarted "millennial bomb plot" targeting Los Angelos International Airport and other major targets inside the United States during the New Year's celebrations of December 31, 1999, (2) Al Qaeda's covertly failed attempt to bomb an American naval destroyer in the opening days of the year 2000, (3) Bin Laden's covertly failed attempt to launch the future 9/11 attack prematurely in September 2000, (4) the bombing of the USS COLE in October 2000, and finally (5) the 9/11 attack in 2001. With this climactic millennial provocation, Bin Laden began his world war against America in the first year of the new millennium when he prompted President Bush to launch the post-9/11 military crusade that has portrayed the superpower as an evil empire determined to conquer Muslim lands. In the context of the apocalyptic overtone of Bin Laden's media campaign against America, his decision to launch his global war against the "Great Satan" America precisely at the start of a new millennium is tantamount to a claim to the title of Mahdi.)
   
   
4. The Mahdi distinguishes himself as Islam's greatest contemporary warlord by executing the most crippling attacks on the chief enemies of Islam while avoiding retaliation. (Bin Laden began his career as the foremost fundraiser for the Afghan Mujahedeen that defeated the Soviet invasion and catalyzed the collapse of the "evil empire". Bin Laden later became the world's most famous man when he executed the most punishing attack on the American homeland in modern history. He followed this success with a global public relations victory over America in the wake of the Bush Administration's invasion of Iraq. On this prestigious foundation as an epic warlord, Bin Laden has waged an unprecdented global terrorist campaign targeting all of the principle aggressors in Muslim lands, from Russia and Britain to domestic dictatorships. Despite having launched these devastating attacks on the world's most powerful nations, Bin Laden has ostensibly avoided retaliation.)
   
   
5. The Mahdi wages his global war at a time when Jerusalem and Baghdad are occupied by non-Muslims, military occupations that involve brutal wars in Palestine and Iraq, respectively. (Bin Laden's global war has coincided with the military occupation of Jerusalem and Baghdad in the context of brutal wars in Palestine and Iraq by Jewish Israel and the Christian superpower, respectively.)
   
   
6. The Mahdi receives a pledge of allegiance from the Iraqi people. (Bin Laden conspicuously manufactured this feature into his own life's story when the Al Qaeda operative Zarqawi, who had usurped leadership of the Iraqi insurgency against the American occupation, publicly pledged the Iraqi people's allegiance to Bin Laden in October 2004.)
   
   
7. The Mahdi is naturally endowed with a very tall physical stature. (Bin Laden's naturally endowed height of 6'5" has aided his conniving attempts to imitate the Muslim Messiah.)

The Mahdi closely resembles the personage of the Prophet Mohammed, shared characteristics of the archetypical Islamic warrior-prophet that Bin Laden has endeavored to accentuate in his own public persona.

1. Having the name Mohammed, as does his father, the Mahdi is born and raised in Saudi Arabia. (Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden, son of the late Mohammed bin Laden, was born and raised in Saudi Arabia.)
   
   
2. The Mahdi is a wealthy man who is banished from his homeland by the infidel rulers of Saudi Arabia. (Bin Laden was an extremely wealthy associate of the Saudi royal family when he was banished from his homeland by the famously impious Saudi rulers.)
   
   
3. Following his exile to a foreign land, the Mahdi successfully hides from his enemies in caves. (Following his exile from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, Bin Laden successfully hides from American retaliatory strikes inside caves built into the mountainous terrain.)
   
   
4. The Mahdi demonstrates prophetic abilities in his leadership of the holy war against Islam's enemies. (Bin Laden has demonstrated prophetic abilities in his leadership of the holy war against Islam's enemies by predicting (1) the collapse of the Soviet Union precipitated by its defeat in Afghanistan, (2) the prolonged American military presence in Saudi Arabia after the 1991 Gulf War, and (3) the American military withdrawal from Saudi Arabia following the 9/11 attack, (4) the American invasion and occupation of Iraq.)
   
   
5. The Mahdi displays the quiet-spoken, humble demeanor of a holy man. (Interviewers of Bin Laden have consistently described his demeanor as quiet-spoken and humble, consistent with the image projected in all of his media releases.)
   
   
6. The Mahdi emerges to fight his global war at age 40. (Bin Laden first appeared on the world stage in February 1998, at age 40, when he officially declared his global war against America and promised a campaign of provocatory terrorist attacks.)

By hijacking the radical Islamic revolution and presenting himself as the divinely protected millennial destroyer of the "Great Satan" America, Bin Laden has molded his public image to strikingly resemble the holy warlord figure of the Mahdi. Bin Laden completed the casting of his apocalyptic drama by covertly provoking America to portray a belligerent Great Satan empire. These Machiavellian machinations reveal a truth of devastating consequence for Al Qaeda's media campaign: the righteous appearance of Bin Laden's revolutionary movement serves to disguise the true motive for his planned nuclear holocaust, Messiah pretension, the abominably sinister act of vanity behind the 9/11 war.

     Even more overtly than this pattern of meticulous imitation, Bin Laden has explicitly laid claim to being the Mahdi. A particular videotape of Bin Laden has been the focus of much attention in intelligence circles, in which Bin Laden stands before a dry-erase board that has written on it the name "Mahdi", meaning "awaited enlightened one". Bin Laden has encouraged this belief about him among his followers, who have furthered vocalized his claim. Al Qaeda detainees in Guatanamo Bay have told interrogators they joined Bin Laden's jihad because they believe he is the Mahdi, and American military intelligence has revealed that some of the Al Qaeda operatives infiltrating Iraq from abroad are doing so because of their belief in Islamic prophecy. The fact that the Taliban government sacrificed itself to protect a man who had intentionally provoked an American invasion suggests that the Taliban rulers had a similar ultimate reverence for Bin Laden's stature. The growing widespread belief in Muslim nations that Bin Laden is the Mahdi reflects the success Bin Laden has enjoyed thus far in his Mahdi movement, a public testament that strongly encourages Al Qaeda to complete its apocalyptic designs. As demostrated by successful past campaigns against Mahdist movements (see reference below), only a concerted effort to debunk Bin Laden's claim to this righteous title can foil Al Qaeda's war effort.

*Although widely observed as the beginning of the new millennium, the year 2000 actually represents the final year of the previous millennium, the year from which we pass into a new millennium.

See also: (1) "The Man Who Would Be Mahdi" by Timothy Furnish, Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2002. Available at www.mahdiwatch.org

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