James S. Robbins

About the author: James S. Robbins is an international relations professor at National Defense University.

Osama bin Laden's statement released on October 7, 2001, reveals some clues as to his motives behind his endorsement and alleged planning of the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks. He wishes to rid the Middle East of Western influence and to overthrow regimes in Saudi Arabia and Jordan that trace their roots to post-World War I European diplomacy. His comments calling on Muslims everywhere to resist the United States reveal that America's war against terrorism is not against one man or regime, but against an ideology that is diametrically opposed to the American way of life.

Osama bin Laden's statement Sunday [October 7, 2001] after the first Allied...