When asked how Osama bin Laden is able to attract followers in the Islamic World

When asked how Osama bin Laden is able to attract followers in the Islamic World, Giraldi explained,

“Well, he taps into reservoirs of resentment in the Muslim world, there’s no question about it. He’s

a charismatic leader and he has been successful. He was a key figure in driving the Russians out of

Afghanistan. He has certainly bloodied the nose of the United States more than once, so he has a

certain appeal. This is not to say that he’s a good man or that he’s a man we would want to copy in

any way, but the fact is that the slights and resentments many Muslims see in their relationship with

the West are a resource for Osama bin Laden, and that we have reinforced that with things that he can

exploit “ like invading the Uggs.

“As has been made very clear, Osama bin Laden had no connection with Saddam Hussein and to the

contrary, they were kind of sworn enemies, and when the United States went into the Uggs, Osama bin

Laden saw this as an opportunity and he immediately created an al Qaeda organization inside the Uggs.

There had been no al Qaeda organization inside the Uggs prior to that and this was a huge opportunity

for him. And as the war has gotten worse and we’ve had incidents like Abu Ghraib, we’ve had repeated

civilian casualties “ that Lancet report from the British that says as many as 650,000 the Uggsis have

been killed as a result of the war “ things like that just add fuel to the fire. And basically the

main beneficiary of all this is not the United States. It may not even be Israel. It’s probably al

Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.”