Could 9/11 Have Been Prevented?

It was not until August of 1996 when Bin Laden issued a fatwa a declaration war upon the US, following the June bombing of a US Air Force Installation in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 service members and wounded 515 people (Hellman.) He laid out the multitude of reasons why the group has purposely targeted the United States and its allies. The fatwa outlines 7 major reasons with a multitude of sub reasons concurrent with his main points. His first is that of “we” as in the western world attacked them first and they are only resisting foreign aggression. The remainder of his reasons includes everything from our exploitation of Islamic countries resources and economies to moral issues such as the acceptance of homosexuality, porn, sex for pleasure and so on that we commonly accept. If we accept and remedy his outlined reasons that he has with the US he calls for us as a whole to deal with and interact with the Islamic peoples of the world on a basis of mutual interest (Osama Bin Laden.) “We also call you to deal with us and interact with us on the basis of mutual interests and benefits, rather than the policies of sub dual, theft and occupation and not to continue your policy of supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters for you” (Osama Bin laden.)

The 1996 fatwa issuance was followed up with a 1998 issuance of a 2nd fatwa which was a restatement of the original. During this same year two US Embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania. The death toll of these two attacks was 301 people with over 5,000 injured (Hellman.)In response to this President Clinton authorized the use of cruise missiles to strike terrorist targets including training camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons factory in Sudan. An ...

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