Why were we attacked on 9/11?

[OregonAlex]

I wanted to start a new thread base on something BoneheadNW said in the "i was disappointed thread".

A perfect example of why I am terrified of citizens following their leaders blindly can be seen in the Nazi society (wow, we are back to the thread title!). Without having to list the actions of that society based on what the government told it's citizens (i.e. Jews are evil and must be eradicated, etc), it is not difficult to see why a society's citizens should constantly question authority rather than blindly follow it.
Bonehead

Bonehead,

You make an excellent point here.

Why were we attacked on 9/11?? I response I heard from the President on 9/11 was "we were attached by these people because they do not like Freedom".

Anyone else remember this? Somehow people allowed this to be an acceptable explaination??? WTF?

Later you also make a very good point.. you bring up the quote about "if you do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it (mistakes)."

We made a lot of mistakes after World War I. We punished the other side and they came back even more pissed at us 30 years later and so we had World War II.
After World War II, we wised up and helped to rebuild those countries after we over took them and now those countries are one of our greatest allies. Bravo!!

What the heck are we doing now?? Anyone that thinks that starting a War with a Middle Eastern Country was a good idea is a short sighted idiot. Yes, they may appear under our control right now but I can guarantee you that this is just the start of something much bigger. We have really stepped in the shit now. If we don't try to fix relationships with the middle east country and understand why we were REALLY attached in the first place, but instead react in force we are just bring more bloodshed to our shores. I have heard no one try to understand why they were so mad at us in the first place to cause 9/11 nor have we done anything to stop this anger in the future.

 

[BoneheadNW]

Re: Why were we attached on 9/11?

This post has been sitting here for an hour and a half and no one has responded. You pose a good question and I wish I knew the answer. What would really be interesting is to pose that question to people around the world, including our enemies and allies. I am sure that even amongst our enemies the answers would vary.
Bonehead

 

[California]

I know the answer to this one. I'll post before Don comes along and says it better and more clearly!

The incredible amount of oil money we have poured into the Middle East made some previously simple nomadic families unbelievably wealthy. As a consequence the next generation had time to sit around and think about 'traditional values' and how to return their culture to purity, as they see it. Some of them, Osama in particular, concluded that it would be necesary to completely eliminate Western influence within the Muslim world so they could go back to living as they did in the time of Muhammad. Osama & friends tried to set up such a culture in Somalia, then in Afghanistan by supporting and strengthening the Taliban which they helped become dominant there.

Meanwhile Osama was also supporting efforts to weaken the West and chose the World Trade Center as what he considered its most significant symbol. His teams first put a bomb next to the columns in its basement several years ago but that failed so the aircraft attack was the second attempt. Only then did our government recognise the extent of the opposition.

Not all Muslims are religious conservatives. Saddam led a secular Muslim nation, probably no more religious-driven than the US. Attacking Afghanistan to find Osama was a rational strategy but abandoning that search and taking down Saddam was wildly off target in my opinion. I have read that plans to invade Iraq existed long before 9-11 and it appears they were implemented without regard to whether that responded to the 9-11 attack on the US.

As Colin Powell said, you break it, you bought it. I wish Bush had listened to him.

 

[Junkman]

Remember the first time the World Trade Center was bombed????? I believe that was back in 1991. They, the Arab world see our support of Israel as being wrong and as a result, they wanted to make a statement that they could fight the strongest country on the planet on their own soil and that they, the US couldn't do anything about it. This isn't so much a war of political beliefs, but a much deeper issue. Think back to the Crusades and you will see the beginnings of the problem. The only difference now vs. then is that now they have the economic ability to fight to the bitter end. You cannot argue or fight with an opponent that is driven by religion. Religious fanatics don't use reason as part of the thought process, especially when that religion has no tolerance of any other religion.