In the wake of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, everyone wants to know why the terrorists did what they did. The answer is not hard to find. And while it does not in any way excuse the terrorists’ actions, it does go a long way toward explaining why there are so many people that hate the USA so badly.
The Middle East is ruled by dictators: the royal families of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan; Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party; the Taliban. All of these regimes were set up by Western powers, often overthrowing democratically elected governments in the process. The US supported the Taliban (and Osama bin Laden) because we wanted to hurt the Soviet Union, and all the rest were set up to make sure that the West has a steady supply of cheap oil. These guys are all fascist dictators who don’t care one iota about the lives and well-being of their subjects. And the US and Europe put them in power. That, folks, is why so many Middle Eastern people seem to hate us so much. Like I said before, these facts do not in any way justify the murder of 5000 innocent people, but unless we understand the problem, we cannot hope to solve it.
If the US and Europe want to end terrorism for good, we have to seriously re-think our policy towards the Middle East. Supporting the establishment of democratically-elected Arabian governments will do more to ease world tensions than all the bombs in NATO’s arsenals. And developing alternative fuels for vehicles will de-emphasize the oil trade, so we won’t have to keep propping up dictators and tinplate “kings” to assure us a steady fuel supply.
I want bin Laden and his cronies to pay for what they’ve done, but let’s take steps to address the overarching issues that created him in the first place.
In the face of a dismissive and totally superfluous response from Saint Zero there, I will say that the OP contains a lot which makes sense to me.
The avowed intentions of Mr. Bush, and Mr. Blair, to eradicate terrorism, are totally unrealistic unless the reasons for outrages like 11 September are closely examined.
The West can kill as many terrorists as it wishes, but more will emerge to take their place unless some serious thinking is done regarding the root causes of the problem.
You probably should have posted this in the Great Debates.
Bin Lauden has no interest in democracy. His only interest is in creating radical Islamic fundamentalist states. The western idea of democracy will simply be seen by him as another sign of Western decadence and our support of it yet another excuse for him to continue his murderous rampage.
We do have to re-think our Mid-East policy, but the end result of that is not going to make the terrorists happy.
the web site of the Afghan resistance is http://www.afgha.com Has a lot of articles written by journalists from all over the world. Explains the who, how, why, and when of the Taliban, Bin Laden, relationships with Pakistan, and other countries. It’s updated daily & helps me understand what’s happening.
Thank you, you’ve done a pretty good job of summing up why the middle east hates the US. Add in the support of Israel and you’ve got most of it.
Saint Zero, if by “Hmm, Nah” you mean to dismiss this theory, I have to disagree. Could you explain your reasoning?
Blackclaw, you make a good point that Osama Bin Laden doesn’t want democracy, but given the chance perhaps many other Arabs would. In any case, the key is treating the Arab countries with respect. Whether or not they’d stop supporting terrorism if left to their own devices, the fact is we haven’t given them the chance. We’ve encouraged their terrorism both directly against the communists and indirectly by treating them badly.