Is Bin Laden an expert in American History, or just odd coincidences?

[Joe_Cool]

I do understand the “white van on the corner” phenomenon. I’m not a tinfoil hat paranoiac, as alphagene sort of makes it sound.

Bin Laden is something of a soldier, having been trained and equipped by the United States and having fought successfully against the Soviet Union. He likely sees himself as an important leader, eventually a religious martyr, and is likely well-educated.

Naturally, I accept the possibility that the date had nothing to do with anything, but I have my doubts, and here’s why:

He chose specific targets (and conceivably the date), for specific reasons, and not necessarily for reasons that an American would have chosen. I do not believe the WTC and Pentagon were simply targets of opportunity and, hey, Sept 11 was just the day 4 flights happened to be available, and would you like killing or non-killing? He made a devastating attack against perhaps the biggest symbol of America’s economic power (and which he tried in the past to destroy), crippling the stock market for a matter of days. He made a simultaneous attack against the command center of America’s military power - the Pentagon.

*Originally posted by douglips *
I’d say that unless you look at all the days in August, September and October and find no better “reason” to attack the US, that this is all just a coincidence.

The founding of L.A. would certainly rank in importance (or lack thereof) with the discovery of Manhattan, except for the fact that it was not the second attack he had made against Los Angeles.

But in what way do Jesse James, McKinley, the first sub attack, the Nazi blitz, Corbin Bernsen, and Tupac Shakur have to do with Bin Laden’s grudge against the U.S.? They are all interesting points, but none of them really has anything to do with his grudge against America.

**My point is that I think this is just an example of the “white van on the corner” phenomenon. We find these coincidences and attempt to attach significance. If the attack had been on just about any other day we could have found similar coincidences. **

Again, this is entirely possible. Believe me, I know all about perceived “too strange not to be true” coincidence. You’ll notice I didn’t bring up ridiculous things like folding a $20 bill, adding numbers to make 9 and 11, etc. I was simply intrigued by these particular three incidents that might seem very significant to an Arab who did not grow up in American culture, and wanted to send a message to Americans. To an Arab, the founding of a city and the beginning of construction on a monumental building like the Pentagon might be significant dates. And since the events coincided nicely and appear to be relevant to his cause…

Well, let’s just say that if I were in his shoes and planning such an attack, I would look for things just like that.

I just noticed one thing that really shoots down my idea though: the fourth plane. The one that crashed in Pennsylvania, supposedly bound for the Capitol Building.

So unless the same date has special significance to the Capitol, that blows my theory all to hell. Oh well.

[Atreyu]

Do they even use the Gregorian calendar in that part of the world? Isn’t the Muslim calendar favored in the Middle East? If that’s the case, then our date of 9-11 wouldn’t be so meaningful to them, since their calendar is supposed to be based on the lunar cycle, and therefore a correspondence between dates would constantly be moving around.

[W.Panic_Snopes]

According to the Muslim Calender, September 11, 2001 was the 23rd day of Jumada in the year 1422. It might be really interesting to see what happened on that date in Muslim history.

[5_time_champ]

9/11/01 happened to fall on a Tuesday. IIRC, Tuesdays are generally the lightest days for airline passenger travel.

I don’t have a cite handy, but the hijacked planes had very few passengers onboard. It is thought that the hijackers wanted as few passengers on board the planes as possible.

[Drudgery_With_Intent]

Also, September 11 is the anniversary of the US sponsored coup in Chile, replacing Allende with Pinochet

[wring]

what was the date of the first attack on the World Trade? How about when the USS Cole was attacked? And the embassy bombings in Africa? Hmmm? Or are you suggesting that it was only this attack that in addition to strategic planning, and the general ’ I am attacking USA’ POV, that OBL intended an additional subliminal message WRT the date?

[Rossarian]

What’s the point of picking a symbolic date when all the events are obscure enough that no one would notice the coincidence? Requiring an operation to take place on a specific date makes planning and preparation more difficult.

And what does Sherman have to do with anything? He is hardly the first person to bring war to the civilian populace.

[Rhum_Runner]

*Originally posted by Joe_Cool *
**To an Arab, the founding of a city and the beginning of construction on a monumental building like the Pentagon might be significant dates. **

And they might not. September 11 1609!!! Come on, tell me it is the same day that the US and/or Israel did something in the last 30 years to some Arab group somewhere and I might listen, but to think the OBL chose 9/11/2001 because it was the 392 anniversary of the discovery of Manhattan? (By the way, this seems incredible to me, from 1492 until 1609 no one discovered Manhattan island?)

I know when I think September, I think Civil War. :rolleyes: This is silly.

[Brutus]

Even more mysterious, 9-11 in roman numerals is IX-XI !!! Is that odd or what? I bet the symmetry of it all was Laden’s goal.

[Narile]

Wasn’t Sept 11th one of the important dates in the signing of the Camp David accords? I know the actual official signatory was Sept 17th, but I seem to recall that there was a supposition back when 9-11 occured that the accords were part of the choosing of that day.