Bin Laden reads blogs

It would be extremely reductive to define The Sheikh of Terror as a religious fanatic plotting the destruction of the US while holed up in a cave. In fact, a further analysis of his messages denotes the extent to which Bin Laden borrows from Western discussions about the Middle East and the war. He is tech-savvy, he is extremely well informed, and is no different to any other political leader in the way he promotes his political and religious agenda. 

The way in which his modus operandi differs lies in the way his propaganda works. When considering Bin Laden's post-2001 agenda, two phases are distinguishable: immediately after the 9/11 attacks he was labelling himself as a "warrior for Palestine", and religious influences were the core of his discourses -which were self-sustained-. Later on though (from 2004 onwards), the main element of his ideology became heavy criticism towards George Bush and the US war campaign: hence, he acted like a parasite feeding itself from the "fear and loathing of his enemies" (O'Neill, 2006) and from their mistakes too. During that period, he gradually abandoned religious slurs and fatwas  in favour of citations of Michael Moore documentaries, US opinion polls against the war, humanitarian reports about Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Also, he is a big antagonist of Western media's biased coverage of the war, and spoke widely about scandals like Halliburton -the oil company owned by Dick Cheney who won contracts to supply fuel to the US Army-. 

Not only his new style aimed to broaden his audience and attempt to connect with disillusioned US citizens, but also revealed the extent to which he keeps himself informed, scanning the news environment and, apparently, blogs. Yes, it is alleged that Bin Laden reads blogs (or at least the entourage briefing him) and especially likes some of the crankier left wing ones out there, of which he appears to be a regular follower. In fact, the content of his messages often coincided with the latest scandals/topics discussed by these 'dissident' Western sources, simplifying his task in two ways: sparing him a lengthy research and the construction of a solid argument, and also gaining some kind of support among enemies' ranks. 

Nonetheless, another explanation for this peculiar change in style is brought up by German intelligence sources: could it be another addition to the endless collection of wacky conspiracy theories? Maybe. But apparently, Bin Laden died 9 years ago  in Tora Bora (Afghanistan) and all the following videos are "certainly fake" according to David Ray Griffin, a former theology professor. Hence, those videos portray an impersonator of former Al Qaeda's chief, and this explains the different communication strategy.


Vieri