A taped presentation introduces students to Osama bin Laden and his holy war.’

“War is the locomotive of history,” said Leon Trotsky. My job is teaching 20th-century U.S. history to eighth-graders while our country is at war. On a pretest, I asked each of my 130 students, “Who is the United States at war with?” Most answered, “Iraq.” Then I asked, “What are we fighting about?” Most either didn’t know, or believed it had something to do with the Sept. 11 attacks when they were in the fourth grade.

After reading their answers, I stood before them and asked, “How many of you personally know someone who had fought in Iraq or in Afghanistan?”

In each class, about 30 or 40 percent raised their hands. They had brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins or family friends who were, or had been, on the front.

“OK,” I said. “I’m going to let Osama bin Laden himself tell you why he declared war on America. I turned on the television and the VCR and said, “This is a PBS Frontline’ episode from 1999, two years before the Sept. 11 attacks. Bin Laden is talking in 1996.”

I pressed “play,” and bin Laden was sitting in front of bookshelves dressed in a camouflage military jacket, a white cloth wrapped around his head, the end draped across his left shoulder. Beside him was an assault rifle. He stroked his beard and began speaking Arabic in a soft tone. A slightly louder translator’s voice said, “The call to wage war against America was made because America has spearheaded a crusade against Islam, sent in thousands of its troops to the land of the two holy mosques, meddling in Saudi affairs and politics, and supporting its oppressive, corrupt and tyrannical regime. These are the reasons behind singling out America as a target.”

Students had paid attention carefully. Then I said, “He just told you four reasons why he declared war on us back in 1996. What is one of them?” They looked at me wide-eyed and silent. “Come on. Can’t you remember one?”

Shyly, one girl put up her hand. I nodded to her and she said, “Umm, having a war with Islam?”

“Bin Laden chose his words carefully. He said, spearheading a crusade against Islam.’ He’s suggesting that the U.S. isn’t alone in this – but in the lead. Then he called it a crusade.’ Why?”

No response.

“You learned about crusades in sixth grade,” I said. “Try to remember.”

No response.

I walked over to the world map on a wall and traced routes from Europe to Israel through the Balkans, saying: “A thousand years ago, European Christians traveled to the area around Jerusalem, the Holy Land,’ and took control away from Muslim Arabs. Osama wants people to think this is a religious war, like a thousand years ago. Is the United States fighting the religion of Islam?”

“No,” said the girl. Several others shook their heads.

“There are over a billion Muslims living in these parts of the world,” I said, pointing to North Africa, the Middle East, Bangladesh and Indonesia. “Is Osama trying to turn them against us?”

“It looks that way,” said a boy.

“Or, maybe he really believes it,” I suggested.

Another boy put up his hand. “I’ve read a few biographies of Hitler,” he said. “Maybe bin Laden is saying that to influence people the way Hitler did. He doesn’t necessarily believe it.”

“Can I say something else?” the first boy asked.

“Go ahead.”

“I expected to see a raving lunatic when you turned on the television, but he wasn’t like that. He was calm. He spoke softly.”

“Yes, he did. What were the other reasons he’s declaring war on us?”

No response.

“I’ll let him tell you again,” I said, rewinding and pressing “play.” After they saw it a second time, I asked for another reason.

“Because we have soldiers in the land of the mosques?” said a girl.

“Yes. He’s referring to Mecca and Medina.” I pointed to those Saudi Arabian cities on a map. “Do we have soldiers there?”

No response.

“We had soldiers here along the Iraqi border when Saddam invaded Kuwait,” I explained

“Now they’re in Iraq,” said a girl.

“That’s right. What’s another reason?”

“That we meddle in Saudi politics,” said another girl.

“Yes,” I said. “Do we?”

“We get oil from them,” she said.

“Yes, and we pay a lot of money for it, making Saudi Arabia very rich. We need their oil. They need to sell it. We sell them fighter planes and other military stuff. We do a lot of business. Is that meddling?”

“Bin Laden thinks so,” said another boy.

“They waste a lot of money and bin Laden is angry. Is that America’s fault?”

“Not really,” said a girl. “It’s their money.”

Tom McLaughlin, a teacher and columnist, lives in Lovell. His e-mail address is tommclaughlin@pivot.net.

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