The events of Sept. 11 happened while an American writer was finishing a book he had spent five years working on — “The Holy War: Osama Bin Laden’s Secret World.” In the book he tells the story of Muhammad Ali, a member of Al-Qaeda who trained members of the American Special Forces in Afghanistan when the Afghan mujahedeen were considered America’s men.
Muhammad Ali was born in Egypt and was in the Egyptian Army for 13 years after which he married an American and moved to California. He joined the US Army and was assigned to Fort Bragg where, because of his knowledge of the Middle East, he became a trainer for American Special Forces.
Muhammad Ali never hid his Islamic beliefs and always told his commanders that he hated traitors. He then went to Afghanistan and joined the mujahedeen in their fight to oust the Soviets from their country. At that time, the Afghani mujahedeen were considered brave men fighting for freedom and courageously defying communism. For this reason, America supplied them with anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, which later found their way into Al-Qaeda’s hands. Then the situation changed completely — the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan, communism fell and Bin Laden established Al-Qaeda from the specialist Arab-Afghans after directing them toward war in other countries such as Chechnya, the Philippines and America.
In 1989, Muhammad Ali was honorably discharged from the US Army and joined Al-Qaeda. In 1998, he was arrested — many were perplexed as to why but the book attempts to give some reasons.
This book is of great importance to the American authorities because it contains a record of a unique personality that took part in activities that horrified the whole world. The book also sends an important message — that Al-Qaeda is highly organized and includes a number of people, all able and willing to fight and at the heart of the organization is a deeply mysterious figure, Osama Bin Laden, who may be dead or alive.
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How can we ban smoking in cinemas while cinema stars smoke and enjoy cigarettes in scene after scene without constraint? In England, certain officials requested a British director not to film scenes with actors and actresses smoking which may lead young people to imitate the actors.
The request was also directed at some famous movie stars — such as Arnold Schwarzenegger — who enjoy great popularity among teenagers. They were asked not to stop filming scenes which show smoking as a fascinating and attractive activity. It seems that the request was the last bid in a long line of attempts to reduce the glamour of smoking.
Other failed campaigns in Britain have included one led by a group of supermodels with the slogan: “Don’t be old- fashioned; throw the cigarette away.” Despite the appearance on television of some of the most famous models — their efforts didn’t ring true — Kate Moss was seen in a TV commercial taking a long puff on a cigarette.
Health officials in the UK lay the blame for the increase in the number of teenagers smoking squarely on the media. They found that 40 percent of films released last year contained more than 10 movie stars smoking. For example, John Travolta in “Pulp Fiction,” Leonardo DiCaprio in “Romeo and Juliet,” Julia Roberts in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”
What is strange here is that despite the insistence of the authorities in Britain that the cinema is the main reason for the rise in the number of smoking teenagers, Charles McDonald in the magazine “Empire” warned that banning smoking would eliminate much of the pleasure and thrill of movies and teenagers would not want to watch them any longer. So the question is: Which is more important — the cinema or young people’s health?
Arab News Features 24 January 2003
