FYI logo

Why Osama Bin Laden attacked the US

Why Osama Bin Laden attacked the US

By ThembhaniPublished 11 months ago 11 min read
1
Why Osama Bin Laden attacked the US
Photo by Felix Koutchinski on Unsplash

Osama Bin weighted down went down in records for his obsession with attacking the us and

its allies - never giving up his mad quest until he was eventually gunned down by way of Seal group 6 in 2011.

however why changed into this terrorist mastermind so obsessed

with america? Why did he assault the united states in the first region?

in case you ask many intellectuals, they’ll tell you that maximum terrorists aren’t powerful criminals,

but alternatively people pushed by means of desperation to strike out towards a government they view

as oppressing them. This applied to many of Bin laden’s henchmen,

who were subsidized through Al Qaeda’s internal circle to educate in its terror camps.

however it did now not apply to Osama Bin laden.

Osama grew up in Saudi Arabia, in the lap of luxurious because the son of Mohammed bin Awad bin weighted down.

to say that the elder Bin encumbered turned into a fulfillment might be placing it gently - he changed into a billionaire

creation multi-millionaire who ensured his own family became properly looked after - his very large circle of relatives at

that! Osama Bin laden changed into born in 1957 as a son of Mohammed bin encumbered’s tenth spouse. In overall,

his father had fifty two youngsters. His mother divorced the billionaire soon after Osama became born,

but Osama might in the end inherit at least $25 million greenbacks from his father.

So he turned into properly taken care of - however where did his radicalism begin?

The Bin weighted down family become devoutly religious, but followed a mainstream version of the

Sunni Muslim religion. They were nicely assimilated into the Saudi way of life,

and no person would count on one of the clan to become an infamous terrorist. He didn’t observe a career

route that would lead to extremism both - if you knew him returned in the Seventies, you would realize him as

a slight-mannered economics and business scholar in King Abdulaziz university in Jeddah. He graduated,

even though reviews range on what he majored in. but we do realize he briefly attended a category at Oxford.

those who knew him mentioned he turned into passionate approximately poetry, navy history, and football.

So how did it all go so horribly incorrect?

all of it started out whilst he left college in 1979 and went to Afghanistan to fight in opposition to…the

Soviet Union. The invasion of Afghanistan had galvanized him to emerge as a political radical,

however he had no motive to hate the america at that factor. In reality,

the usa and Soviet Union had been sour enemies. The organizations he labored with,

just like the Mujaheddin, even acquired monetary support from the us as they battled

to hold the Soviets at bay. The Saudis furnished guide towards the Soviets as nicely, and it regarded

like Bin encumbered’s hobbies had been nicely in line with those of the larger western countries.

but then some thing modified.

by the time Osama Bin encumbered became a public name inside the west because of a chain of escalating terror

attacks in opposition to US pursuits, his motivation had dramatically changed - and so had his status in

the sector. His turn to anti-west radicalism had caused his Saudi citizenship being revoked. After

all, the Saudis substantially valued their alliance with the us, specifically because of

their contention with Iran, and they didn’t need to be related to a wild card. Bin weighted down

observed himself a stateless terrorist, locating refuge in nations which include Sudan, Pakistan,

and Afghanistan - and he would handiest surface sometimes to make threatening videotapes.

And on the ones videotapes, his motivation began to come to be clearer.

What grew to become the son of a Saudi billionaire construction wealthy person right into a terrorist

radical? Bin laden gave many motives - and no longer all of them really matched up.

no longer lengthy after the 9/11 attacks, Bin encumbered launched his first new videotape taking credit for

the attacks - and he singled out one fundamental reason for the attack. This become the Israeli-Palestinian

war, which were raging for over fifty years at that point. in case you requested the Israelis,

that they had fended off a genocidal war of invasion in opposition to a newborn united states of america and

taken the territory they had to defend themselves. in case you asked the Palestinians

or the encompassing Arab states, they had been expelled from their territory by means of novices

to the location and were fighting to get their lands back ever considering the fact that.

but become this regional struggle enough to create a international struggle?

In a word, probable no longer. at the same time as the Israeli-Palestinian warfare continually

makes emotions run excessive - simply ask anyone in the feedback section in a piece of writing about Gal

Gadot - it become additionally a relatively small-scale war. The war over the Al Aqsa Mosque

and the Jewish temple mount changed into in all likelihood the maximum regarding to a spiritual zealot like Bin encumbered,

however there was one trouble with the idea that this turned into his motivation - prior to this video,

he had never noted the struggle earlier than! the chances are that once hanging his biggest

blow but in opposition to the us and becoming public enemy #1, he hoped that

bringing up this hot topic could get him extra support from countries in the region.

however other conflicts may additionally have had extra to do together with his radicalization.

The Gulf battle became certainly one of the biggest conflicts of the 1990s, with the usa in the long run

stopping Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait - however leaving the Iraqi dictator

in strength. Saddam changed into notorious for his brutal treatment of minority agencies just like the Kurds,

and frequently attacked US planes coming into his airspace. Iraqi forces even attempted

to assassinate former President George HW Bush shortly after he left workplace. So the

UN imposed sanctions on Iraq as lengthy as Saddam refused to cooperate with

international government - and this led to a exchange embargo and big struggling in Iraq.

And that became sufficient to get Bin laden deeply angry.

He first mentioned the sanctions in his 1998 fatwa in opposition to people, claiming

that over a million Iraqis were killed through the sanctions and announcing that concentrated on civilians was

permissible because of this carnage. but Bin weighted down had no direct ties to the Iraqis and had in no way

fought in the united states - and in reality, Saddam was a totally one of a kind form of radical to him.

Saddam led a navy dictatorship that had no actual alliance with Islamic radical companies - and

while he turned into deposed via the united states some years later, it created an opening for Al Qaeda

in the us of a! So Bin laden basing his entire worldview round this issue could seem not going.

but other conflicts were on his radar as properly.

Bin laden’s manifesto additionally cited infinite conflicts concerning Muslims in the international. They

blanketed Russia’s oppression of the Chechen Muslim minority inside the Soviet Union, the ongoing border

battle in Kashmir among Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, the Philippine government’s

conflict with Muslim businesses, and Israel’s ongoing northern border battle with Lebanon. In each of

these instances, Bin encumbered said the usa turned into aiding those agencies to oppress Muslims.

there has been simply one hassle with that…

america had little to nothing to do with any of those conflicts! at the same time as they have been allies with

a number of the international locations, the authorities had little to do with them. In Russia’s attack on Chechnya,

the us had frosty members of the family with its geopolitical rival at satisfactory - even after the

fall of the Soviet Union. the one exception turned into Bin laden’s point out of the war in Somalia,

where US involvement caused a bloody battle that turned into immortalized within the movie Black Hawk

Down. however none of these were conflicts that have been mainly close to Bin laden,

and his inclusion of them commenced to appearance more like a listing of grievances than a smoking gun.

He had one complaint that didn’t match the others

even though- and this one may have a few right-wing individuals nodding along.

In his 2002 “Letter to the usa”, his first time speaking with the outside global

after the Sept. 11 attacks, he determined to develop his lawsuits to america’s home behavior.

but he didn’t accuse them of oppressing Muslim americans - alternatively, he went on a rant approximately

america’s immorality. a number of his court cases blanketed the country’s guide of promiscuous intercourse,

gay rights, alcohol and tablets, and gambling. He also oddly complained approximately buying and selling with

hobby - prohibited in Islam, however common in banking round the world.

was Osama Bin laden turning into a tradition-critic?

while many anti-American radicals do criticize the usa’s domestic policies further to its

overseas rules whilst no longer being completely fleged terrorists - this apears to be another case

just like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which Bin encumbered appeared to generate a brand new grievance after

the assaults that placed him on the arena degree. It’s not likely that this turned into his primary criticism that

inspired his assaults, however a savvy propagandist like Bin laden would possibly have put it in the manifesto

to set people in opposition to each different. after all, if proper-wing people start blaming the gay rights

movement for terror attacks, perhaps they’ll be too busy combating each other to locate him.

however most experts trust one issue prompted him extra than any other.

The yr was 1991, and Saddam Hussein had invaded the oil-wealthy Persian Gulf state

of Kuwait. despite the fact that we’ve already located that Saddam Hussein didn’t

fully assist Bin weighted down’s purpose, the roots of his rage may be tied to that war besides. The

US and Saudi Arabia were intently aligned, and the Saudis fast invited US troops

onto their soil to launch their attacks on Iraq from there - and to provide some

insurance in case Saddam makes a decision to take his quest for oil even further.

And when the conflict ended, the usa caught around.

From 1992 to 2003, america had round 5 thousand troops stationed in Saudi Arabia,

mainly to behavior air operations over Iraq. at the same time as Saddam have been pushed again,

there had by no means been any formal peace agreement and he persisted to act aggressively in the direction of

his associates. This was some thing the Saudis agreed to and in fact invited - their

protection turned into endangered with the aid of Saddam as nicely, and commercial enterprise family members with the usa were critical

to each countries. the usa presence turned into critical to protecting the transport lanes of the Persian gulf.

So why did this fill Bin encumbered with rage?

simple - the united states agreed, the Saudis agreed - but nobody requested him! whilst most of the people worried felt

that the safety blessings have been worth it, Osama bin weighted down regarded even the voluntary presence of

US troops on Saudi soil as an invasion of holy Muslim land. at the same time as the troops were

nowhere near the sacred towns of Mecca and Medina, they were too close for this radical.

And there's ample evidence that this might have been the trigger

that grew to become him into an anti-American militant.

For one factor, it changed into the simplest motivation cited within the first actual fatwa he issued

in 1996 - traumatic the usa evacuate Saudi Arabia. two years later, he referred to it as an invasion,

wherein the us have been plundering the united states and humiliating its people. He

believed it was a staging floor for an attack at the whole Muslim international,

and repeatedly accused the americans of being too near Mecca. the usa presence

in Saudi Arabia might sooner or later cease whilst the 2d struggle with Iraq began, due to the Saudis

opposing that conflict, however this turned into the most effective motivation that Bin weighted down stored coming back to.

which means sarcastically, Osama Bin weighted down’s motive for trying to claim warfare on the us may have

been that his domestic country invited them in - to protect them from a hostile neighbor. Of route,

in case you ask ten people why Osama bin laden hated the usa, you’ll possibly get ten

solutions - and maximum of them will mirror the individual’s opinions more than the reality.

Humanity
1

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.