The 9/11 hijackers have beendescribed as sociopathic crazy men. Bin Laden has also been described in thesame manner however, the available psychological investigations shows totallydifferent aspects. Terrorists are neither crazy nor sociopaths, contrary topopular belief, however active terrorist are not willing to volunteer forscientific research. Terrorist are involved in criminal activity and are soughtafter by law enforcement agents and military. Moreover, it would be extremelydangerous for researchers to conduct this type research. Terrorists that havebeen arrested and jailed have provided some access for researchers; however,jailed terrorists often have no desire to participate in research.
Those thatdo participate do not provide a large enough test group to provide adequatescientific data. BinLaden was consistent and clearly stated the purpose, as well as the actions,behind his attacks on America. His political goals were well defined “slowlybuilding on each other, repeating long-established themes, that took intoaccount recent world events and U.S. action.
“184 It is important to listen tothese goals and the objectives defined by al-Qaeda in order to effectivelyundermine them. it is important to remember that when discussing the politicsof al-Qaeda, religion cannot be excluded. Religion and politics are interwoveninto al-Qaeda’s ideology, as it is throughout the Muslim world. Al-Qaedaadheres to the Salafist school of thought that believes God’s law must be thelaw that governs men, not laws and governments created by men. Since 9/11, thetalk of al-Qaeda has revolved around the leader Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden wasthe face of al-Qaeda and the central figure that united the organization.However, the religious and political ideology of the organization existed longbefore bin Laden created al-Qaeda.
The goal of al-Qaeda is to restore Islam tothe greatness that it had once achieved or the period of Islam known as thegolden age. During the seventh and eighth centuries, the Islamic empirestretched from southern Spain across North Africa all the way to India. Theanswer to the problems of the Muslim world for the Salafists was that Muslims once again neededto be ruledby God’s law like the Prophet Mohammed had and during the time of the GoldenAge of Islam, when God’s law was the only law.
