Recalling the second story in "Foundation" I can't believe bin Laden could have been inspired by that book. In that story (chapter three) the old Galactic Empire has decayed to the extent that planets near the Galactic edge have broken free of central Imperial rule and have set up little kingdoms of their own, each vying with its neighbors. Civilization's gone to pot in these declining days of the Galactic Empire (120th Century); school kids these days don't learn differential equations or dig up fossils or read the classics or study history any more. When one's video game console breaks, there's nothing anyone local can do to fix it; someone, somewhere, centuries ago knew the technological lore of game console manufacture and repair, but science has declined - everywhere that is but the planet Terminus, home of the Foundation, where academic types have been concentrated thanks to this elaborate "psychohistorical" scheme of the book's hero Hari Seldon.
Terminus is weak in material resources, outnumbered and surrounded by these aggressive little kingdoms. While Terminus possesses all the intellectuals, including every last competent engineer or physicist in a thousand light year radius, and the kingdoms have none, the kingdoms own Space Navies of Empire-surplus interplanetary battleships, and Terminus has none. To compensate, the government of Terminus have set themselves up as the center of a _religion_.
This religion is a bare fraud, the citizens of Terminus itself don't believe it a bit! Its only intent is to scam the ignorant rubes in those backwards surrounding kingdoms. These rubes hold Terminus and its priesthood in magical awe, thanks to "miracles" they've seen with their own eyes: the technologists of Terminus equip their priesthood for off-planet duty with a bunch of magic-seeming gadgets (thrones which hum and glow and float off the ground, tiny atomic-powered doodads which when a priest of Terminus wears them cast a halo around his head, etc.), and more practically the "priests" of Terminus operate the nuclear power reactors which supply these planets with electric power! The priests of the Church of Terminus tell the off-planet suckas that the electric power magically flows down from the indulgence of the Holy Galactic Spirit, as mediated by the Terminus priesthood of course. Should the people of the kingdoms disrespect the priesthood, piss off the Galactic Spirit, then ka-boom! it's Chernobyl time.
On the planet Anacreon one of the petty kings (actually his ambitious regent Wienis) decides to attack Terminus. Take over Terminus, then he'll have both his already-potent Anacreonian Space Navy and also the technologists of Terminus, guys who can, for example, restore any broken down old Empire spaceships they find to fighting trim, and then Anacreon can conquer all its rivals. But when he makes his move on Terminus, the mayor of Terminus whips out a jihad against him!
"If you're really interested, the ships of the fleet left Anacreon
exactly fifty minutes ago, at eleven, and the first shot will be fired
as soon as they sight Terminus, which should be at noon tomorrow. You
may consider yourself a prisoner of war."
"That's exactly what I do consider myself, your highness... I had set my
counterstroke for midnight."
Wienis started from his chair. "You are not bluffing me. There is no
counterstroke. If you are counting on the support of the other kingdoms,
forget it. Their navies, combined, are no match for ours."
"I know that. I don't intend firing a shot. It is simply that the word
went out a week ago that at midnight tonight, the planet Anacreon goes
under the interdict."
"The interdict?"
"Yes. If you don't understand, I might explain that every priest in
Anacreon is going on strike, unless I countermand the order. But I
can't while I'm being held incommunicado; nor do I wish to even if I
weren't!" He leaned forward and added, with sudden animation, "Do you
realize, your highness, that an attack on the Foundation is nothing
short of sacrilege of the highest order?"
Wienis was groping visibly for self-control. "Give me none of that,
Hardin. Save it for the mob."
"My dear Wienis, whoever do you think I am saving it for? I imagine
that for the last half hour every temple on Anacreon has been the
center of a mob listening to a priest exhorting them upon that very
subject. There's not a man or woman on Anacreon that doesn't know that
their government has launched a vicious, unprovoked attack upon the
center of their religion..." He leaned back in his chair, helped
himself to another glass of Locris wine, and gazed at the ceiling with
perfect indifference.
Now Giles Foden asks me to believe that bin Laden is inspired by, and identifies himself with, the cynical and fundamentally religion-less plotters of the Foundation? No, it's just a coincidence that the translated title is the same - "base" is a fairly common word after all. Sure, many an American politician might identify with a fictional hero who fraudulently poses as a religionist to bamboozle the ignorant faithful masses. But is Osama bin Laden really so total an atheist? "Give me none of that, Osama, save it for the mob." "My dear G.W., whoever do you think I'm saving it for?" Doesn't sound right at all.
Yours WDK - WKiernan at concentric.net