Deliberate Terrorist Attack - Essay Example

? Deliberate Terrorist Attack: Causes, Interpretations and Outcomes First Last of Deliberate Terrorist Attack: Causes, Interpretations and Outcomes September 11, 2011 marked one of the greatest tragedies of modern history. It is the day when Americans and the world were petrified by a sudden incident and mourned for the unspeakable damages and deaths that occurred in just a very short span of time. This remarkable period of contemporary history, which gained numerous and often opposing interpretations from people, served as a precursor to many a significant event that shaped the political, economic, cultural and social landscapes not only of the United States of America but also of the entire world. This paper aims to examine the historic yet much-disputed event in a perspective that delves into the purported causes, outcomes, interpretations and analyses by various authorities leading to solve its mystery and to substantiate that it is, in fact, a purposeful act of terrorism. A Day of Terror It was just a typical busy day for Manhattan’s financial district until loud explosions roared and alarms reverberated all at once. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were burning, initial reports said. Succeeding news items revealed that it was a series of airplane crashes that hit the two building buildings due to hijacking operations. Few minutes passed when live broadcasts broke another story that another passenger airline crashed into The Pentagon, and a fourth one plunged into a field in Pennsylvania (a failed attempt to hit the White House of the Capitol); conclusions were drawn that the progression of incidents was actually a terrorist attack by suicide bombers. Authorities reported that there were no survivors from any of the flights and that almost 3, 000 people died due to the incident, including the 19 hijackers. The number accounted for 836 firefighters and police officers who showed up for rescue that doubled after a week. Additionally, it was noted that most of the casualties were American civilians and nationals from almost 100 countries (“In-depth: September,” 2007). Horrible and piteous scenes documented by videos and photographs of the incident could hardly describe the total magnitude of the catastrophic event during ‘nine eleven.’ The whole scope of damage did not only encompass the targeted structures which were deemed as symbols of American supremacy, it also included several buildings on the site that were destroyed or severely weakened such as related financial and business complexes, media outlets, government offices, a hotel, a church and pedestrian bridges. Furthermore, the attacks generated widespread disorder among news agencies, airline companies and airport facilities, security personnel, law enforcers and political leaders around the globe. For three days, all international civilian flights were prohibited to land on the U.S soil. Aircrafts already in flight were either turned down or rerouted to other airports in nearby countries. Such was the paranoia of the American government and the people during the time. Subsequently, the suspected attackers, of various nationalities, were identified. The Federal Bureau of Investigation determined the personal information of the passengers that boarded the planes and reckoned their identities and capabilities to carry out the despicable assault. It was found out that they formally attended American aviation schools, which qualified them to deliver the attack. On board American Airlines Flight 11 were Mohamed Atta, Satam al-Suqami, Waleed Alshehri, Wail Alshahri and Abdulaziz Alomari. Marwan Al-Shehhi, Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, Mohald Alshehri and Fayez Rashid were in United Airlines Flight 175. In American Airline Flight 77 were Khalid Almihdhar, Majed Moqed, Nawaf Alhamzi, Salem Alhamzi and Ani Hanjour. While, Saeed Alghamdi, Ahmed Alnami, Ziad Samir al-Jarrah and Ahmed al-Naznawi were able to pass airport scrutiny by behaving like ordinary passengers and boarded United Airlines Flight 93. Further verifications established that they were all members of the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda, under the instructions of Pakistan-born Khalid Sheik Mohammed and masterminded by anti-Semitic and Muslim extremist Osama bin Laden (Bravin, 2009; “World Trade Center,” 2011). William Rodriguez, a survivor and a janitor who worked for the North Tower of the World Trade Center testified in court that he personally saw Mohald Alshehri inside the building who manifested unusual behavior 3 months before the attack. An honoree in the National Hero Award from the Senate of Puerto Rico after having saved several lives during the incident, Rodriguez’s claim was believed by the FBI. Recovered recordings of voices that spoke Arabic heard in the cockpit minutes before the plane crash corroborated with the investigators’ presentation of evidence that without a doubt, the abovementioned suspects were the real culprits who wreaked the havoc in the American soil (Zarembka, 2006). Root Causes of the Attacks As proven, the 9/11 incident was a planned terrorist attack. It was a result of a serious contemplation and a rationalized decision by its perpetrators. The suspects and their mastermind who claimed responsibility for the crime outlined some political and ideological reasons that motivated them to perform such acts of terrorism and revealed that it took them several years to materialize this scheme (“Bin Laden Claims,” 2004). In a previously recorded statement, Bin Laden was quoted to have said that his mujahideens decided to destroy the symbolic buildings of America because they wanted to regain the freedom of their nation. According to him, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which had the support of the United States, was one of the main reasons that catapulted them to plan the attack. He also signified imminent terrorist strikes if the US government would not modify its intervening policies on the political affairs in the Middle East (“Bin Laden Claims,” 2004). Historically, the Arab sentiments against foreign policies began in 1948 when the United Nations ruled that Israel be established a modern state to give the Jewish people a place they could call home after the horrors they experienced during the World War II (Langley, 2006). This landmark intervention of a foreign power and a non-Muslim entity drove some extremely conservative individuals in the Middle East to be unhappy, if not outraged against the West, and that included a member of the powerful bin Laden clan of Saudi. Osama bin Laden used his own resources to form a group that would wage a ‘jihad’ or a holy war against foreign powers who they alleged are enemies of Islam. The revolution in Iran back in 1979 was also deemed to have sparked the ire of this Saudi dissident and exile in Afghanistan, thus contributing to the rise of Anti-Americanism. To be sure, bin Laden is unmistakably an anti-American. Religion, irrefutably, played a very significant role in the 9/11 terror attack. It was noted by Lincoln (2006) that the suspects of the despicable crime were profoundly religious and intensely conservative. An individual analysis of the personalities of these men confirmed that they possessed very strong ideological notions against the Western powers, specifically of the United States. They were not only motivated by anger but also of religious passion. Pieces of evidence from the suspects’ luggage indicated some detailed manuals of instruction that almost always allude to the Quran and that justified their acts of annihilation and massacre ‘in the name of Allah.’ On the one hand, ideologists and journalists see that the main progenitor of the terrorists attack is religion -- that they were fighters for the will of God. On the other hand, historians and social scientists upheld that the real cause that drove the terrorists to do what they were instructed or willfully desired to do was the systemic disparity, whether factual or imagined, between America’s economic privilege and their nation’s scarcity and the Western country’s political dominance and their marginality (Meyerowitz, 2003). In their book entitled 11 September 2001: War, Terror and Judgement, Gokay and Walker (2003) pointed that the terrorists’ fundamentalist disapproval of the ways of the American people, their sense of powerlessness in front of the modern world superpower, their view of the attacks done to their comrades whether directly by the US or by other Western nations and ultimately, the seemingly selective passivity and calculative moves of the American leaders may be the best explanations of the why the incident transpired. They further elucidated that the intense resentment and fanatical hatred of these Arab terrorists moved them to dedicate some yeas of their lives to carry out such plan. The attacks were condemned by the members of the press and governments worldwide. Nations across the globe expressed pro-American support and unity. Leaders in most countries in the Middle East denounced the atrocity, except for Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi leader, who uttered that the Americans only deserved what happened to them as a result of their numerous crimes against humankind. The statement received much criticism from people, mostly from the Americans who subsequently resolved to wage a ‘war on terror.’ Various Interpretations Amid numerous misleading opinions and conspiracy theories that the 9/11 incident was an inside job, sans the Biblical intimation and prophetic remarks, nothing can be far from truth that whole gamut of the experience provided a great lesson in modern history. Certainly, terrorism is one noteworthy aspect in international and domestic security that leaders should not fail to look into. It is an utmost concern that needs to be studied very well as exemplified in the American experience of 9/11. In his scholarly treatise, Crotty (2003) explicated that due to the incident, the US and its allies were beset with a new kind of war and a new kind of hazard. Hence, this prompted them to create institutions that would mobilize their responses and defenses against future events similar to the 9/11. Especially in the US, congressional legislation was resorted to boost the security authorities and to give broader powers to the president in the combat against terrorism. Theoretically, the Americans saw the incident as an attack not only of their security but also of their democracy. In another vein, renowned American intellectual Noam Chomsky offered a somewhat unconventional interpretation of the incident. In his book, he underscored that although 9/11 was something new in the international affairs and marked the first time that the US mainland was attacked since 1812, it was not a totally surprising event as the US also delivered numerous military strikes in foreign lands and committed countless terrorist-like activities in the past (Chomsky, 2001). He pointed to the US invasions and killings in Mexico, Hawaii and the Philippines, among others. He declared that only this time that the guns had been directed towards the US and was pulled successfully, so the drama unfolded. It can be interpreted then that the incident must have been seen to come in order to be prevented. Additionally, Gokay and Walker (2003) explicated that the terrorists claimed so many innocent lives just to make the Americans realize the ordinariness of their status. That the US is just a mere member of the world of nations and not a governor of all was the intended statement to be delivered by the terrorists. But the terrorists got the opposite response from the Americans, instead of intimidation and surrender, a growing zeal of restoring their civil liberties overwhelmed the nation and heightened their sense of leadership in securing the world. This must have produced astonishing effects to those who were behind the 9/11 attack (Gokay & Walker, 2003). Without a doubt, the incident incited a new reality on the Western world and on the US in particular. It left a mark of vulnerability among nations and confirmed that any evil scheme could prosper without warning. This became a challenge for global leaders and policy makers to effect a proactive and reliable mechanism of international and homeland security. Thus, the fight against terrorism cannot be ended by toppling down an extremist leader or two. As long as prejudicial and fanatical ideologies exist, the threat to humanity would always be in the corner. Weighing the Outcomes The 9/11 attacks had been damaging in ways that reach far beyond the initial death toll and ongoing recovery efforts. More than the economic and financial losses, it impacted the diplomatic relations of some countries and in fact generated a what seemed to be another world war. Immediately after the incident, the American government reorganized its security, intelligence and military forces. It conferred upon the president an augmented authority to enter into war against terrorism. Dubbed as ‘war on terror’, the US toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and invaded Afghanistan few years after 9/11. Although, much criticism was raised against the US invading those Middle Eastern nations, it was a stark political will that never wavered the American spirit to seize its enemies and protect the world from any further danger. The unpopular war that was entered into by the US, which practically caused the decline of the Bush administration’s approval ratings, ultimately sent a message to the terrorist that they could never be victorious when their motives were not guided by principle and their ideologies were biased. The world saw how the US exerted its forces into those lands, and learned what its forebears have taught it: that war can be a necessity and can be justified if the people’s basic civil and constitutional rights are at stake. Moreover, all around the world, travel requirements and airport and border security was tightened. This resulted from the legislation that several governments enacted to protect themselves from terrorists coming from the outside. Unmistakably, this is just a natural phenomenon for countries to defend their sovereignty and ensure the safety of their citizens. There is no doubt that they only aspired for the general welfare of their constituents and aimed for a better society free from harm. It should be noted, likewise, that soon after the 9/11, hate crimes against the Muslim people was widespread (Rabasa, 2004). Brutalities against those identified with the religion were performed and even those Arab-looking men were subjected to cruelty, if not death. This is a frightening scenario as the enduring hatred and cycle of violence would just be condoned. The 9/11 terrorist attack was pulled off by individuals who had negative world views and were manipulated by wrong doctrines of religion. Even though they were Muslims or aptly called Islamists, there would be no appropriate reason to pass the atonement of their sins to the whole Muslim population. It is wrong to consider all Muslims as terrorists and generalize that they are all a threat to humankind due to their extremist positions. Conclusion The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack has awakened not only the United States of America but also the entire world. As manifested by this incident, the imminent danger posed by foreign enemies is real. That people who are overly zealous about their beliefs and excessively intolerant of the modern-day setting can affect a massive destruction and murder innocent lives. These realities caused strained relations and harbored distrust among nations and eventually brought forth wars that also sacrificed countless lives. There were dissenting opinions regarding the series of incidence since 9/11, but only one prevailed: that terrorism has no place in society and terrorists should be prevented from doing any further harm to humanity. However, if the ultimate goal of society which is to obtain world peace, counter-terrorist operations should always be grounded on humanitarian principle and be guided by the international laws and policies of war and not of power-hungry and resource-greedy motives. This, a culture of universal peace and understanding can be inculcated throughout generations. Annotated Bibliography Bin Laden claims responsibility for 9/11. (2004). CBC News Online. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2004/10/29/binladen _message041029.html Canada’s most trusted national broadcaster, CBC, on its online arm, reported the statements of Osama bin Laden that led to the eventual conclusion that he was in fact the mastermind of the 9/11 attack. Citing the press conference bin Laden organized, the online report outlined the different reasons why bin Laden committed the assault and validated the notion that the group planned the attack for several years already. Bravin, J. (2009). Accused 9/11 suspects declare themselves 'terrorists to the bone. Wall Street Digital Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123669703768883959.html This article details how the suspected perpetrators of the 9/11 owned up the atrocious crime. Correspondent Jess Bravin explored the statements of the terrorists and confirmed that they thought of the conspiracy theories as ‘laughable.’ It can be gleaned though their statements that the terrorists never felt any remorse from their ruthless deeds. Chomsky, N. (2001). September 11. Crows Nest, N.S.W: Allen & Unwin. One of the most respected American scholars and purported to be one of the most frequently-cited living authors, Noam Chomsky expressed his unconventional wisdom about the incident which he thought ‘not surprising’. In the book, Chomsky went down the American memory lane and denoted the nation’s resort to force several times in its history. Chomsky, technically, offered an intriguing insight regarding 9/11 and stimulated people’s skepticism over the authentic causes of the attacks. Crotty, W. J. (2003). The Politics of terror: The U.S. response to 9/11. New England: Northeastern UP. The book elucidated the multifarious challenges that the US government and its allies confront right after the 9/11 terrorist attack. He underlined the fact that initially Americans were really shocked by the incident and were motivated to fight off the enemies of the state. The author believed that every single innuendo that transpired after the incident was largely due to political maneuvers of world leaders. Gokay, B., & Walker, B. J. (2003). 11 September 2001: War, terror, and judgement. London: Frank Cass. The authors concluded that the main motivator for the terrorist group to do such horrible acts was their objections against the American culture. Their book cited other reasons which led to these Muslim’s planned attack to the US. In a word, Anti-Americanism was the source of all inspirations for the terrorists, accordingly. Furthermore, the authors also mentioned preceding events which led to the growing hatred among the Arabs towards the Western world, especially to the US. In-depth: September 11, What happened? (2007). CBC News Online. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/sep11/ The article informed about the number of casualties in the incident, from American citizens to the many nationalities who worked in the Twin Tower. It also listed the names of the suspected terrorists and how the attacks from the 4 passenger flights were carried out. The website also included reportorial interpretations and critical analyses of the event and other related future affairs which every reader about the subject must not fail to visit. Langley, A. (2006). September 11: Attack on America. North Mankato, MN: Compass Point. The book serves as an introductory treatise to the highly complicated and profoundly complex 9/11 occurrence. It traces the roots of the political bickering between some nations in the Arab world and some nations in the Western world. The book alludes to the many significant historical events that stimulated the hatred of some Islam followers against the United States, who they deemed as the foe of Mohammad. A background on the life and writings of Osama bin Laden was also included in the book. Lincoln, B. (2006). Holy terrors: thinking about religion after September 11. Chicago, IL: Chicago UP. The author expresses his strong convictions that religion explains everything in the incident on September 11th. He declared that the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) already institutionalized wars amongst them, and that the 9/11 was factually an offshoot of this enduring religious conflict. In the book, several passages in the Quran were also cited to confirm the motivations and justifications of the terrorists that what they have done was for the sake of Allah’s name. Meyerowitz, J. J. (2003). History and September 11th: Critical perspectives on the past. Philadelphia, PA: Temple. The book studied the varying opinions of social scientists and political scholars about the catastrophic episode in contemporary American history. The author inferred that religious ideologies and political notions guided the minds of the terrorists. The author also included past events that already signaled the increasing resentment of the Arab world towards the US. Rabasa, A. (2004). The Muslim world after 9/11. Santa Monica, CA: Rand. The multifaceted experiences of the Muslim population right after the 9/11 was the central theme of Rabasa’s book. It also analyzed the major changes within the socio-economic and political landscapes in the Muslim world. Several factors that fashioned religious extremism and violence were also contained in the book, where the conclusion recommended strategies for the US and the rest of the Western world to utilize in their dealings with the Muslim nations and peoples. World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. (2011). Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved from http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/ops/911-recr.htm This article by a private entity deals with the historical background of the incident. The website demonstrated the recruitment process of the Al-Qaeda and looked into the internal affairs of the organization. It was emphasized that the group’s ideology revolves around the tenets of Islam and the teachings of their leaders. The authoritative write-up concludes that the 9/11 incident was indeed a product of terrorist attacks. Zarembka, P. (2006). The hidden history of 9-11-2001. Bradford, WY: Emerald Group. The author exposed numerous truths behind 9/11, integrating inside scenarios in the court room and the investigators’ ‘holy grail of evidence.’ In the book, he acknowledges that the eyewitness account of a survivor should be given credence. The book which was considered by many as a product of rigorous scholarship and a definitive explanation of the 9/11 as a global-metamorphosing event, also made mention of the rise of Islamophobia and incorporated the wide-ranging economic ramifications of the incident. Read More