The U.S. Army is using a profile of Osama Bin Laden to develop a long-term psychological operation for the Middle East. One of the goals of the campaign is to counter the enormous influence Bin Laden wields over young Muslims throughout the Middle East and Asia.
Army psychologists and outside experts have been meeting to study
Bin Laden's profile as part of a strategic campaign to garner support in the Middle East for
the U.S. war against Al Qaida and its satellite groups. The effort has taken
place at the army's John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in
Fort Bragg, N.C.
"You really can't understand this destructive movement without
understanding its leader," Jerrold Post, a leading psychological profiler
for the U.S. government and military, said, "In many ways, the leader is the
creation of [his] followers."
[On Monday, Yemen reported that six Al Qaida insurgents were killed when
their car was blown up by an anti-tank missile fired from an unmanned air
vehicle. One of the insurgents was identified as a leader of the bombing of
the USS Cole in October 2000, Middle East Newsline reported.]
Post, director of the Political Psychology program at George Washington
University, has been examining Bin Laden and consulting with the army's special
operations soldiers, many of whom will be sent to the Middle East. Regarded
as a pioneer in terrorist psychology, Post developed profiles of Middle East
leaders for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s.
The profile being developed by Post and army psychologists portrays Bin
Laden as a hypocrite who poses as an Islamic prophet. During a lecture last
month, Post portrayed Bin Laden as a sane and calculating leader who
distorts Islamic principles and is obsessed with the teachings of radical
Muslim clerics. He said Al Qaida can easily be led by another should Bin
Laden be killed or incapacitated.
"He is a self-aggrandizing distorter of the Koran," Post said, "[The
Koran says] fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not
transgress limits, for God loves not the transgressor."
The program seeks to understand Bin Laden to enable the army to launch
psychological operations against Bin Laden and Al Qaida. The operations seek
to undo the influence Bin Laden has wielded over young Muslims throughout
the Middle East and Asia.
"Strategic psychological operations are important," Post said. "How do
we delegitimize Osama Bin Laden as someone who corrupts Islam? This is a war
of hearts and minds."
Maj. Ken Gordon, in charge of of the Regional Studies Detachment at 3rd
Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group, said the military will be
sending troops into the Middle East with training in Arabic and Islamic
culture. Many of the soldiers in the airborne unit will be deployed soon in
psychological operations or civil affairs operators or planners.
Gordon said the aim is to build grassroots support among Muslims for
U.S. foreign and counterterrorism policy. He said the course on Bin Laden
and Al Qaida seeks to provide U.S. military personnel with a cultural
background of the Middle East.
"One of the psychological operations objectives is to attempt to modify
the behavior and attitudes of a foreign target audience in support of U.S.
foreign policy objectives," Gordon said. "You have to understand the culture
and worldview of the target audience in order to do that well."
