Bin Laden objected to who ruled the empire, not to empire itself

Evidence

Osama bin Laden and his followers define the American enemy not as imperialists but as Crusaders (an earlier offender). They have no objection to imperial domination as such, provided that it is the true believers who rule the unbelievers, and not the reverse. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1656 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Osama bin Laden was symbolically cast as a medieval figure rejecting modernity.; Jihadist anti-Americanism opposes who rules, not imperial domination itself — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1656; Both Bush and bin Laden framed the world as bifurcated into modernity and medievalism — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 762

Broader Connections

• Jihadist anti-Americanism opposes who rules, not imperial domination itself #corroborates (1.00) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1656