In a March 21, 2000, interview in The Washington Times, “General Pervez Musharaf, the military ruler of Pakistan’s 140 million Muslims, aptly summarized bin Laden’s [OBL’s] appeal at the time: ‘The Western demonization of OBL, as he is known in Pakistan, made him a cult figure among Muslims who resent everything from the decline in moral values as conveyed by Hollywood movies and TV serials to America’s lack of support for Palestinians being killed by Israeli occupation forces, to what Russia is doing to Muslims in Chechnya [to] what the West did to Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo, [to] India’s oppression of Muslims in Kashmir. …It is a very long list of complaints that has generated a strong persecution complex that the OBL cult figure has come to embody. He is a hero figure on the pedestal of Muslim extremism.’ ”
– Peter Bergen, Holy War, Inc., Page 36