September 11 Attacks
Ruby Mcgovern
On the morning of the 11th of September 2001, four coordinated terrorist attacks were performed against the United States of America by an Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Two planes were hijacked and each flown directly into the North and South World Trade Centres in New York City. Two other planes were also hijacked, one crashed in a field believing to have been aiming towards the US Capitol, and the other crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. The terrorist attacks killed a total of 2,996 people and injured over 6,000 others, also causing over ten billion dollars worth of infrastructure and property damage. The first short term cause of the 9/11 was religious beliefs. The second cause of the 9/11, which is long term, was the Israel and America bombing of Palestine and Lebanon. Following these causes are three very important perspectives on the 9/11, from Osama Bin Laden (the man held responsible for the attacks), George Bush (the president of the United States at the time of the attacks), and a more recent perspective from Donald Trump (the current president of the United States). I will then discuss the significance of the event to New Zealand.
Short term cause – Clash of religious beliefs
An underlying short term cause of the 9/11 was the clash of religious beliefs held by those who performed the attacks, Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda, and Americans. The clash of religious beliefs begins with America and its allies, as some fundamentalist Muslims believe that they represent and demonstrate ‘the opposite of what Islam stands for.’ Muslims are expected to follow and listen to Allah, their God, and are seen to stand for moral decency. They are also expected to follow the Koran, an Islamic sacred book, and also to follow Muhammed, the Muslims prophet (a person who is believed to be chosen by God to say the things that god wants to tell people) in all that he does and says. A document was found in the baggage of Mohamed Atta who was onboard one of the flights that flew into the towers, and he was one of the suspected leaders among the 9/11 terrorists. The handwritten instructions to the hijackers aboard the planes set to hit the twin towers read “you should pray, you should fast. You should ask God for guidance, you should ask God for help …. Continue to recite the Koran (Islamic sacred book as mentioned). Purify your heart and clean it from all earthly matters.” These instructions explain how the suicide mission that the hijackers were set out on and the writer of the letter held intense religious beliefs, and believed that all they were doing was in honour of their God, Allah. On the last page of the hijackers letter, instructions were given to the hijackers explaining what to do when they’re onboard the flight. The instructions told the hijackers that they were to pray, as “when the planes reach their targets, the terrorists are directed to welcome death because they will meet again in heaven” – meaning the terrorists believed that if/when they die during the attacks, they will go to heaven for obeying Allah and following their God. The terrorists believing they were going to heaven would have ridded of any hesitiaiton, and may have prompted the attacks even further. In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, which ignited the Gulf War. Nations including Muslim Middle Eastern, American, British, and others teamed together to rid of Saddam Hussein’s army. American and non-Arab forces entering Saudi territory was labeled as a crisis by some Arab Muslims, including Osama Bin Laden, as the Saudi city of Mecca is the birthplace of the Muslims prophet (a person who is believed to be chosen by God to say the things that God wants to tell people) Muhammed. The Saudi city of Mecca is a special and sacred place to all Muslims because of this personal connection to Muhammed, and non-Muslims are not allowed to enter it, so the invasion was seen as offensive and disrespectful to many Muslims, their God, Muhammed, and their religious beliefs. Because of how offensive and disrespectful to Muslim beliefs and to their God the attack on Saudi territory was to Muslims, the clash of religion became a short term cause of the 9/11 attacks as it was one of the events that really aggravated and offended Osama Bin Laden, and further grew his hatred for America and the West. Bin Laden’s hatred for America and the West began noticeably and personally for him in 1982, during the invasion of Lebanon, as discussed further below.
Long term cause – Invasion of Lebanon
Another cause of the 9/11 was the Invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Less than a month after the 9/11 attacks occured, Osama Bin Laden, the man who confessed and is held responsible for the acts, released a video message to the world celebrating and honouring the acts of mass destruction that he had performed. In the video message, Bin Laden goes on to describe the extent and degree of “humiliation and disgrace” the Middle East has suffered “for more than 80 years.” Bin Laden then released a further video message in 2004, explaining the root causes and discussing why he decided to attack the towers. Bin Laden again explains that the “events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982”, when referring to America permitting the Israelis to invade Lebanon, defining his frustration and anger towards America as a long term cause for the 9/11 attacks and for his hatred of America and the West. Bin Laden is making reference to the 1982-1983 Beirut barracks bombings, a terrorist attack that occured in Beirut, Lebanon, where America allowed and instructed the Israelites to bomb Palestine and Lebanon, as America claimed they were ‘on a peacekeeping mission’. This aggravated Osama Bin Laden, and because of this attack on Lebanon and his religious beliefs, the idea entered his mind to attack America in return, as he said “it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted … Allah created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind”. This links our short term cause with our long term cause, as he is saying it was Allah and his religious beliefs who instructed him to retaliate against America for the attack they permitted on Lebanon. Osama Bin Laden had even attempted to warn America and the government many times that he was plotting an attack on the West, yet nobody reacted or picked up on the threats. It took Richard Clarke, former National Coordinator for Security and counter-terrorism for the United States, 9 months to get one meeting with the government of the US to discuss the Al-Qaeda (the group of terrorists responsible for the 9/11), and what he thought would happen next, but the government didn’t listen or act on anything Clarke had said. A week later the 9/11 attacks occured. This means that not only had Bin Laden been angry with America since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, but America had also fed his anger by failing to acknowledge his warnings. The invasion of Lebanon occured 8 years prior to the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, meaning his anger towards America existed years before the Invasion of Kuwait, but what made Osama Bin Laden turn his attention to the “far enemy” of America was the continuation of troops from the US and the milatrity in Saudi Arabia since the invasion on Lebanon. Osama goes on to explain in the 2004 video message that “Allah knows it had never occured to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Lebanon, it came to my mind.” By this, he means that the idea to attack America in return didn’t come to his mind until the invasion of Lebanon that America had involved themselves in. Everything that came after the attack on Lebanon added to Osama Bin Laden’s anger, making the attack on Lebanon the root cause and long term cause of the 9/11.
Perspective #1 – George Bush
Instantly after the attacks occured, the U.S broke out into chaos and panic, with the general public feeling unsafe and vulnerable, and at risk of an attack happening again any second. In such a traumatic time, the President of the United States of the time George Bush reacted to the attacks with grief, but was also optimistic and hopeful for the nation. On the 9th of September 2001, the same day the attacks on the twin towers occured, George Bush released a statement to inform the paranoid nation of America on what had happened earlier that day, and addressed the situation and his own perspective. In this statement, Bush speaks out to the nation of America calmly and collectively. Bush explains in his statement that “these acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong …. terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America”, taking a positive outlook on the current disastrous situation by assuring America that although a horrific attack, America as a whole will not respond in fear, and will instead continue strongly as a nation. When George Bush released his statement to America the same day of the attacks, he reassured America that everything was alright and that the nation did not need to worry, by saying “our military is powerful, and it’s prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington D.C to help with local rescue efforts. Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks. The functions of our government continue without interruption.” Although being optimistic and promising for the future, in his statement Bush still puts to shame those responsible for the attacks by saying “today we came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. The search is underway for those who were behind these evil acts. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” From this, we can understand that Bush believes that America was attacked to frighten the nation, and that he believes those involved directly with the attacks and those who helped are all equally guilty. Although this was George Bush’ address to America, this speaks for the whole of the American government, and helps us understand how the whole of the government responded to the attacks. We will soon see how this perspective clashes with Osama Bin Laden’s.
Perspective #2 – Osama Bin Laden
Another perspective on the 9/11 twin tower attacks is from Osama Bin Laden himself, the man who admitted to being responsible for the attacks, whose perspective clashes with and is the polar opposite to Bush’s. In a speech 3 years after the attacks occured, Bin Laden speaks out about his reasoning behind his actions and his own personal perspective. The speech helps us to understand his perspective, which is that in response to the attack on Lebanon in 1982, he believed that him and his men are free men who don’t sleep under oppression. He explains in his speech that “we want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation. So shall we lay waste to yours.” Bin Laden believes that by ‘laying waste’ to America they are fighting back after what America did during the Lebanon attack and everything since. Bin Laden and his people get their perspective of retaliation and fighting back from their God, Allah, who “commanded them and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind.” Bin Laden's perspective links directly to the previously mentioned long term cause, the invasion of Lebanon, as he discusses in his speech that he “couldn’t forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.” Osama Bin Laden asks a rhetorical question in his speech, saying “could a man be blamed for defending his sanctuary?” This helps us understand that he believed he was defending himself, his country, and his religion after feeling disrespectful and walked over by Americans in both the 1982 attack on Lebanon and the 1990 invasion on Kuwait. Osama Bin Laden’s perspective also shows how strongly his and his people’s religious beliefs conduct their decisions and way of life, and how different his perspective was in contrast to George Bush’s. Osama Bin Laden was following his values and beliefs by performing the attacks on the towers, whereas George Bush saw the attacks as an act of terror and simply ‘mass murder.’
Perspective #3 – Donald Trump
The 9/11 is the most catastrophic terrorist attack in American history. Being this, many politicians at the time and even politicians now are still voicing their opinions on the event. Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, recently mentioned the 9/11 attacks in a speech on the 9th of September 2017, on the 16th year anniversary of the events. Trump's perspective on the 9/11 is similar to George Bush’s in some ways, but Trump also was quick to blame the entire Arab population for something only the Al-Qaeda was held responsible for. Trump claims that large Arab populations were cheering in New Jersey when the twin towers collapsed, which has been proved to be a false statement and makes Trump appear even more racist to the public. Bush took a different approach, by remind America just a week after the attacks that “the enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends, our enemy is a radical network of terrorists.” In his speech, Trump agrees with Bush’s perspective by saying “When Americans are in need, Americans pull together. We are one country …. The terrorists who attacked us thought they could incite fear and weaken our spirit. But American cannot be intimidated”. This sounds closely similar to Bush’s statement where he said “these acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.” This helps us understand that Bush and Donald’s perspectives are similar in some ways, ans that they both believe that the foundation of America will never be touched by a terrorist attack, no matter how extreme. With this close similarity between Trump and Bush, we can also recognise the strong contrast between their two perspectives and Osama Bin Laden’s, as previously mentioned, as Osama Bin Laden was following his values and beliefs by performing the attacks on the towers, whereas George Bush and now Donald Trump saw the attacks as an act of terror and simply ‘mass murder.’ While mentioning the 9/11, Trump also uses this opportunity on the topic of terrorist attacks to warn extremist groups who were threatening the U.S on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This was Trump’s first commemoration on the somber occasion as president of the United States. Trump explains in his speech that these acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation, but that they have failed, America is strong. Trump believes that America’s reaction should be that they should honor the sacrifice by doing “whatever we must to keep our people safe”.
Significance to New Zealand
The attack on the twin towers is significant to New Zealand for many reasons. Firstly, the attacks were so significant because the 9/11 was the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbour in 1941, which was the catalyst for America entering World War II. Instantly after the 9/11 attacks occured, change was already happening within New Zealand, being one of the first countries to react to the disastrous events. New Zealand was already introducing brand new anti-terror laws, sending troops into Afghanistan, and taking other actions in solidarity response to this new and eye-opening threat of terrorism. Also after the attacks, New Zealand joined United Nations by introducing new security screening at airports. Extra security was introduced across New Zealand, installing cameras and making the public’s personal information accessible to be able to do background checks, instantly threatening people’s privacy and human rights. By 2002, the Terrorism Suppression Act was already in place. The Terrorism Suppression Act is a law criminalising many acts related to terrorism. The Terrorism Suppression Act also gives ‘additional responsibilities to intelligence agencies (eg, the SIS, the GCSB), and to the Police.’ Many argued that The Act was an also an invasion of privacy, as it intruded on the personal lives of New Zealand’s public, and made personal information accessible by the Police. The 9/11 attacks also made many New Zealanders define the entire religion of Islam to be all terrorists. AUT criminological researcher James Rodgers explains how the 9/11 prompted further racism towards Muslims, saying "those views very definitely exist and 2001 didn't help that."
In conclusion, the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 had a huge impact and effect of not only those in America, but worldwide, for years afterwards and is still impacting some parts of our lives now. The 9/11 had multiple causes, some being long term and some short term, and also multiple perspectives. These have been elaborated on further when discussing the clash of religious beliefs and the invasion on Lebanon in 1982. The perspectives from George Bush, Osama Bin Laden, and Donald Trump give us further insight into the topic and different people’s values and views. The significance of the 9/11 to New Zealand has also been discussed.