Forgive me for being blunt. But for the longest time I have wondered, what was Bin Laden’s point for 9-11? He brought the world’s biggest superpower to its feet. Also, people claim it was because he was against democracy (I don’t have a cite yet, but I assume it is common knowledge). But (forgive my bluntness again) the U.S. doesn’t typically support democratic regimes. Things might have changed recently. But we typically support dictators like Pinochet in Chile, don’t we? (Again forgive me. I love America. I support America. But it is true, isn’t it?)
If Bin Laden was responsible, then you should read/watch what he said about the matter. He was very clear, explicit, and lengthy about why he allegedly orchestrated 9/11.
I’ll see if I can fish out a link.
(Point is, there’s no mystery involved, since he laid out his reasons very clearly.)
To its feet, and flailing its arms around like a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man. We went a little crazy there for a while. Which, even if it wasn’t Bin Laden’s intention, probably made him happy.
"to reject injustice and a strong determination to punish the unjust. "
"punish the unjust the same way [and] to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women. "
Basically punishment and revenge I suppose.
He’s said a lot more about it in his later videos, but that was many years ago and I can’t find all the details … though there are some recent books that talk about the reasons in more detail that you could find with a bit of research.
I think Osama, over the years, was quite pleased with the results. 9/11 sorta brought the world together in their disklike of America. Not 9/11 itself, but the American’s reaction to it did quite a bit to ruin their standing with the rest of the world, especially the Arab world.
He’s made a few comments about that as well, but I assume someone with more familiarity will be able to provide more links.
I think he/they were of the opinion that the U.S. had too much influence in their region; politically, economically, culturally, etc., and not possessing the ability to curb this influence politically, economically, culturally, etc., they engaged in terrorism as their recourse. Well, that and they were radical, violent, non-mainstream Muslims, of course.
I remember seeing Shelby Foote quoting an exchange during the Civil War PBS series where a Union soldier asked a young Confederate soldier “why are you people fighting this war?” The young Confederate pondered his question and stated “because you’re here”. That’s part of it…though I have to make the distinction that Al Qaeda’s motivations were far more hateful and extreme than most any Confederate’s.
It was more successful than Bin Laden could have dreamed.
It got us embroiled in two costly endless unwinnable wars, it dealt a serious blow to the airline industry, the travel industry, and the economy in general, it got us to go into massive debt, it got us to betray our own values and stoop to barbarous, unjust, and undemocratic policies.
It got us bumbling and parading around the world, pissing off allies and making new enemies day by day. It made radical religious terrorism more popular in the world than it had ever been before.
He made a fool of us, making us chase him around for 10 freaking years before we could catch him. Meanwhile, we’re busy handing over hundreds of millions of dollars to the very people who are promoting his cause (the Pakistani government, for example).
He basically handed us a match and watched us light it for him.
We’re still suffering from our own reaction to the attacks. At the rate we’re going, it will take years, decades for us to get close to normal again.
That’s an interesting point. As per emmaliminal’s cite, Bin Laden wanted to liberate a mosque in Jerusalem, and get our armies out of all the lands of Islam, and so on; as per Borzo’s cite, he wanted us to stop killing children and women over there; are you claiming he (a) didn’t get the assorted results he desired but (b) instead got completely different results he wasn’t actually trying for but still liked?
The things he specifically wanted to achieve have not been achieved. But overall, the USA is in a significantly weaker position than it was before. And in a sense he’s achieved things that he never even hoped of achieving.
Overall, I would say the organizers of 9/11 (if they were still alive today) would view their efforts as a great success.
I’m struggling to think of what you are referring to here. Look at this map: the paler the color, the more democratic the “regime.” You will plainly see that there is a strong correlation between lighter colors and friends of the United States.
There are indeed darker-colored countries with which the US has decent (or improving) relations, but virtually all of the countries with which the US has poor relations are non-democratic (with Venezuela being one significant exception).
But again, the notion that the US was attacked because Al Qaida “hates our freedoms” is revisionist history, in the worst sense of the term.
There is also the possibility that some of the motivation for 9-11 was never verbalized.
For example, there is good reason to suppose he was influenced by some of the teachings of Sayyid Qutb (He was taught by Qutb’s brother for a while, he has quoted some of Qutb’s books, etc).
(Sayyid Qutb was an influential egyptian author and scholar who was very critical about american culture and society (and not so much foreign policy)).
I know it sounds far-fetched to some but I really think 9-11 was at least in part about culture. Striking at the heart of depravity.
If he was not responsible, but merely took the credit to use the infamy as a pulpit… then his words wouldn’t matter that much. In that case we may never know the reasons behind the attacks.
Maybe in a few decades, however, the secret interrogations that Osama is presently undergoing might be leaked out - maybe then we will know more about the attacks. (I kid… sorta.)
