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VGCC Instructors Conduct Seminar On Terrorism, Taliban, Afghanistan

Students, faculty and staff of Vance-Granville Community College received information during a seminar Oct. 3 to help them understand the terrorism situation facing the United States and to understand the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Dr. John Beck, chairman of the College Transfer program who has taught history and politics more than 20 years, was one of the presenters. The other was Morris Casper, a Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan from 1967 to 1969 who teaches world religions at VGCC.

Beck told the gathering that modern terrorism dates back to the late 1800s and is usually associated with promoting revolution and the overthrow of a government or way of life. Terrorists attack violently, randomly and publicly, and if innocent people are hurt, the better, he said.

While 19th century terrorists concentrated on government targets, modern terrorists are more willing to go after civilians, Beck said.

Osama Bin Laden, who is charged with masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, has said he had made American citizens his target because they are helping the “American war machine,” according to Beck .

There are numerous ultra-conservative groups rising throughout the Muslim world, and many of these in the Middle East are fed by poverty and oppression, according to Beck. “They are dedicated to restoring traditional customs and driving out Western, usually United States, influence in that part of the world,” he said.

Bin Laden formed his al-Qaida terrorist network in 1988 to overthrow the communist government in Yemen, which was successful. He recruited people from all Muslim nations to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, and the American CIA funded this effort, Beck said.

After the United States helped Kuwait and Saudi Arabia defeat Iraq in the Gulf War, Bin Laden saw that America was going to maintain a presence in the area and said they would have to be expelled. Bin Laden said the United States was trying to get rid of the Islam religion, according to Beck.

Bin Laden has said it is a situation of Jews and Christians against the Muslim world, and it will be a “war to the death,” Beck said. The professor believes Bin Laden wants to overthrow every country in the Middle East except Afghanistan.

Casper gave history and background on the Islam religion, whose believers are Moslems, or Muslims. “Islam is a wonderfully moral and introspective religion dating back to the 7th century, when it was founded by Mohammed in Mecca,” he said. Moslems believe in one god, and they believe Jesus, like Mohammed, was a prophet of God.

True believers in Islam are respectful of all religions and have the same moral practices as Christians, Casper said.

There are four schools of Moslems, and Bin Laden is presumed to be a Hanbalite, the most conservative faction, primarily located in Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden’s homeland. Hanbalites believe one must look to the Koran as the final arbiter for everything, Casper said.

A verse from the Koran that says everyone has to be willing to be a warrior for God is used to justify modern terrorist activities, Casper said, and   those who die in this endeavor are believed to have a special place before the throne of God.

Afghanistan, an extremely mountainous, rugged land about the size of Texas, is a conservative Moslem nation, according to Casper, who traveled throughout the country during his Peace Corps days. The country thrived during the late 1960s although it was very primitive. It was a self-sufficient nation, and the people were much better off than they are today, he said.

The Taliban, which controls most of Afghanistan today after capturing the capital of Kabul in 1998, is an extremely conservative culture whose leaders are all Hanbalites, said Casper. The Taliban is trying to centralize control and impose their version of Islam on the nation, despite the efforts of a loose organization called the Northern Alliance.

Casper closed by saying the typical Afghanis are incredibly strong and resolute people and are not involved in Bin Laden’s terrorist activities. In fact, more than 1 million have fled the country since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.