Posted: February 6th, 2023

Sad Pages of American History: The September 11 Attacks

Sad pages of American history: Sept 11 attacks. Who was guilty and what was the reason?
The September 11 attacks were a series of terrorist attacks carried out by the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,977 people and caused widespread destruction to the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The attacks were the deadliest terrorist attack in world history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed, respectively. The event marked a turning point in U.S. and global history, leading to significant changes in national security and foreign policy.

The Guilty Party: Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda, meaning “the base” in Arabic, was founded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s with the goal of driving U.S. and other Western military forces out of the Islamic world and overthrowing pro-Western governments in the Middle East. The group carried out several large-scale attacks against U.S. targets prior to September 11, including the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya in 1998 and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000.

The group claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks, stating that they were carried out in response to U.S. support of Israel and the presence of U.S. military forces in the Middle East. Nineteen terrorists, mostly from Saudi Arabia, hijacked four commercial airplanes and carried out coordinated suicide attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted for the U.S. Capitol building, but the passengers and crew attempted to overcome the hijackers, causing the plane to crash in a field in Pennsylvania.

The Reason: Anti-American Ideology and Foreign Policy

The September 11 attacks were motivated by a combination of anti-American ideology and opposition to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Al-Qaeda saw the U.S. as a symbol of Western military and cultural hegemony and sought to strike a blow against the country to undermine its perceived power and influence in the region.

In addition to opposition to U.S. military presence in the Middle East, al-Qaeda also had a long-standing grudge against U.S. support for Israel and for pro-Western governments in the region, such as Saudi Arabia. The group saw these policies as threats to the sovereignty and independence of the Islamic world and sought to use the September 11 attacks to rally support for their cause and spark a broader uprising against U.S. influence in the region.

The September 11 attacks remain one of the darkest moments in American history, resulting in the loss of thousands of innocent lives and causing widespread destruction and trauma. The attacks were carried out by the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda, motivated by a combination of anti-American ideology and opposition to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The event had far-reaching consequences, leading to significant changes in U.S. national security and foreign policy and contributing to ongoing tensions and conflict in the region.

Works Cited
Dugan, L., & Fisher, D. (2022). Far-Right and Jihadi Terrorism within the United States: From September 11th to January 6th. Annual Review of Criminology, 6.
Eichler, J. (2023). What Preceded the Attacks Against France: From 9/11 to the European Front of the Global Terror (2001–2005). In Terrorism in Contemporary France: A Vicious Circle of Violence (pp. 39-55). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Vuong, Q. H., Nguyen, M. H., & Le, T. T. (2021). A mindsponge-based investigation into the psycho-religious mechanism behind suicide attacks. Walter de Gruyter GmbH.

Check Price Discount

Study Notes & Homework Samples: How does sexual revolution reflect the development of democratic principles in the world? »Cognitive Psychology