OPPapers.com

Presidential Rhetoric And Campaign

Presidential Rhetoric and Campaign
Osama bin Laden
12-9-04

Osama bin Laden is a political icon to the people of Afghanistan. He has created a modern day crusade against western civilization that people support because of his rhetorical ability to create, not only through speech, but also through his actions, an insightful philosophy that has moved thousands of people into action against the United States. He was able to achieve this because he chose a religious path that people supported; he took influential persons in his life and his familial background into his radical stance on Islamic government and created an historical movement that has affected thousands of people.
Osama bin Laden was born into a wealthy Saudi family that owned a very successful construction company, the Saudi bin Laden Group. This company was started by bin Laden's father, Muhammed. With this company, Muhammed bin Laden was able to build three of the most religious mosques located in Medina, Mecca, and Jerusalem. Osama bin Laden, in his later years would take this as one of the greatest honors bestowed upon his family. ("Through Our Enemies' Eyes" pg. 82) His father, besides building the religious mosques, left his fifty-two children, including Osama, with a very strong devotion to Islamic religion.
Because of this strict background with Islamic religion Osama bin Laden attended schools located in Medina and in Mecca. Both places provided Osama with alliances that supported him in his beliefs, in the past and in the present with his education at both secondary and university levels. Throughout his education, he came across three of the most influential people in his life, Taqi al-Din Ibn Tammiyah, Mohammed Qutb (a.k.a. Sayyid Qutb Ibrahim Husayn Shadhill) and Shaykh Abdullah Azzam.
Mohammed Qutb is referred to as the "brains behind Osama." (http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~jdouglas/F02finalart9.pdf). During the late 1940's Qutb spent a few years as an educator. During...