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BLACK MUSLIMS AT BIRTH OF AL QAEDA?

Recently, C-SPAN 2’s book review program featured Yaroslav Trofimov giving a first-hand account of how he went about gathering the information necessary to write his spell-binding book, “Siege of Mecca.” It details what is considered to be the event, in Saudi Arabia, that launched the idea of the “Al Qaeda” and modern-day “Jihad” movements.

If this seminal incident has escaped you, it may be because it occurred, in 1979, within weeks of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, plus the fact that a sand dune curtain against communication to the outside world was drawn immediately, and remains partially intact to this day. Also contributing to the news blackout is Washington’s reluctance to tell what it knows of the affair—and its own and France’s involvement therein!

Although the young Osama Bin Laden was in the Saudi Arabian city of Jedda at the time, he was aware of, and obviously influenced by, the significance of the happening. As a matter of fact, it could not have been pulled off without the cooperation of elements of his wealthy and influential family.

Apart from the future explosions (literally) that would emanate from this occasion, I was intrigued by the report that African Americans were among those who were a part of the siege. It was a well known fact that Black Muslims attended Mecca, but it was my first hearing that they had participated in any sort of international violence related to Islam. Because of the sand dune curtain, perhaps concrete substantiation is improbable, but there it is, for us to ponder.

For a fuller explanation of this fascinating story and its author, I offer the following extracts from: http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/siegeofmecca/index.php

"On November 20, 1979, worldwide attention was focused on Tehran, where the Iranian hostage crisis was entering its third week. The same morning-the first of a new Muslim century-hundreds of gunmen stunned the world by seizing Islam's holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Armed with rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins, these men came from more than a dozen countries, launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times. Led by a Saudi preacher named Juhayman al Uteybi, they believed that the Saudi royal family had become a craven servant of American infidels, and sought a return to the glory of uncompromising Islam. With nearly 100,000 worshippers trapped inside the holy compound, Mecca's bloody siege lasted two weeks, inflaming Muslim rage against the United States and causing hundreds of deaths."
Yaroslav Trofimov was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in July 1969, and spent his childhood on the African island of Madagascar before moving to New York to study journalism and political science at New York University.
In 1999-2007, Trofimov traveled all over the Middle East as a Rome-based roving staff correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. A speaker of Arabic, he extensively reported from Saudi Arabia, and from the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. He described these experiences in “Faith at War: A Journey on the Frontlines of Islam, from Baghdad to Timbuktu,” a book of nonfiction reportage that was long-listed for the Lettre Ulysses award for literary journalism and selected as one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post.
Trofimov is currently an Asia-based roving correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, reporting in-depth stories about religion and social change in a region that stretches from Indonesia to Pakistan.
In conversation with Yaroslav Trofimov
If November 20, 1979 had never happened, do you think there would have been a September 11, 2001?
The uprising in Mecca was the first operation of global Jihad, and the way the Saudi regime repressed it made a lasting impact on the young Osama Bin Laden. It was one of the factors that caused him to see the House of Saud as apostates and enemies of Islam. On the other hand, the Saudi government reacted to that uprising by trying to buy off the radical clerics, and by financing their campaign to spread ultra-orthodox Islam around the world—a proselytizing effort that produced many of Al Qaeda recruits in subsequent decades.
The Mecca upheaval was the beginning of a process that led to the tragedy of September 11, and a turning point in the history of radical Islam.
Why has this story never been fully told?
At the time, Saudi Arabia imposed a near-total news blackout on the Mecca events. No independent observers were allowed in the city during the siege, and even visiting Jeddah or Riyadh was nearly impossible for foreign reporters. And, obviously, no one could tell the story of what happened among the insurgents because every suspected gunman found in the mosque was arrested. Most were promptly beheaded, and only a few have survived long prison sentences to tell their stories.
In following years, the uprising in Mecca became a taboo subject in Saudi Arabia. Even a book of official statements on the issue, published shortly after the siege, was outlawed and withdrawn from libraries.
It is only now that people in Saudi Arabia are somewhat less terrified of speaking about the crisis—a change that allowed me to interview former terrorists and military officials involved in the siege. Also, the passage of time made it easier to get the U.S. government to declassify its documents about the crisis.
What was the US's role in the Siege of Mecca?
There were American citizens on both sides of the barricades. The gunmen occupying the Mosque included a number of African-American converts to Islam. Retired American military personnel were employed flying Saudi helicopters above the Mosque in support of the mission in Mecca. And the CIA provided tear gas and advice on the ground. At the end, however, it was the role of the French commandos that proved decisive in the final assault on the shrine.
What does it teach us about our current conflict with Al Qaeda?
The gunmen in Mecca were deeply convinced that they are following God’s orders, and were extremely brave and dedicated during the battle. In part because of this zeal, they managed to stave off the entire Saudi military for two weeks. This zeal also managed to unite people of disparate nationalities. The lesson for today is that radical Islamic ideology is and extremely powerful motivator and that one shouldn’t underestimate our enemies.
How hard was it for you to get into Saudi Arabia to research this book, and how difficult was it report within Saudi Arabia?
I received my first visa for researching this book by sheer coincidence—somehow I was invited to attend an economic conference in Jeddah. The visa was valid for seven days, and I managed to skip my minders on the first day, and spent all this time reporting to gain an extra day, I chose a flight that arrived shortly after midnight on the first day, and left on a flight just before midnight on the seventh.
Later in the year, I returned to Saudi Arabia for a follow-up on the invitation of a research think tank—without the knowledge of information ministry minders who deal with visiting journalists. It took almost six months to receive the second visa. I doubt I will be allowed back anytime soon.
A great many people were too scared to talk to me inside the Kingdom, but, thanks to contacts developed while covering Saudi Arabia for the Wall Street Journal, I managed to locate some who were willing to be interviewed. One former gunman who would only agree to be interviewed in my hotel room—he was too afraid of being seen with me in the lobby. He spent the entire night recounting the ordeal, and emptied my minibar of all soft drinks by dawn.

On November 20, 1979, worldwide attention was focused on Tehran, where the Iranian hostage crisis was entering its third week. The same morning—the first of a new Muslim century—hundreds of gunmen stunned the world by seizing Islam’s holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Armed with rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins, these men came from more than a dozen countries, launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times. Led by a Saudi preacher named Juhayman al Uteybi, they believed that the Saudi royal family had become a craven servant of American infidels, and sought a return to the glory of uncompromising Islam. With nearly 100,000 worshippers trapped inside the holy compound, Mecca’s bloody siege lasted two weeks, inflaming Muslim rage against the United States and causing hundreds of deaths.
Despite U.S. assistance, the Saudi royal family proved haplessly incapable of dislodging the occupier, whose ranks included American converts to Islam. In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini blamed the Great Satan—the United States —for defiling the shrine, prompting mobs to storm and torch American embassies in Pakistan and Libya. The desperate Saudis finally enlisted the help of French commandos led by tough-as-nails Captain Paul Barril, who prepared the final assault and supplied poison gas that knocked out the insurgents. Though most captured gunmen were quickly beheaded, the Saudi royal family responded to this unprecedented challenge by compromising with the rebels’ supporters among the kingdom’s most senior clerics, helping them nurture and export Juhayman’s violent brand of Islam around the world.
This dramatic and immensely consequential story was barely covered in the press in the pre-CNN, pre–Al Jazeera days, as Saudi Arabia imposed an information blackout and kept foreign correspondents away. Yaroslav Trofimov now penetrates this veil of silence, interviewing for the first time scores of direct participants in the siege, including former terrorists, and drawing on hundreds of documents that had been declassified on his request. Written with the pacing, detail, and suspense of a real-life thriller, The Siege of Mecca reveals how Saudi reaction to the uprising in Mecca set free the forces that produced the attacks of 9/11, and the harrowing circumstances that surround us today.