THE TRUTH BEHIND 9/11.

Islamic Extremists – From US Ally to US Enemy

Once funded with “billions of dollars” worth of weapons and ammunition and trained by US military officials as part of a main US ally in the Cold War , Islamic Extremists have now become public enemy number one in the West. Funds once used to aid the former ally are now spent in order to crush their existence. The ironic side of this, is that the US public knows little about the facts behind the “War on Terror”. The Bush administration did everything possible to make 9/11 seem like an Islamic war against the West, referring to the Middle East as the “axis of evil”. For nearly the past 8 years, the US public has been “brainwashed” into a “culture of fear” , with the media constantly reporting on possible further attacks and generally broadcasting negative images of Muslims. What the US public knows little about and what is generally being left unreported by the US media, is that 9/11 was a response from Islamic Extremists who the US government themselves once armed, trained and funded. The US is using propaganda in the “War on Terror” in order to pursue its political and economic ambitions just as it had done during the Cold War. This “fear mongering” war, has in fact little to do with finding the terrorists they once armed, but more with securing the control of valuable natural resources, such as oil in the Middle Eastern region, by keeping the “vast oil reserves in hands friendly to the United States”. It has led to the misunderstanding of Islam and has fueled hatred, discrimination and violence towards Muslims. The psychological factor of the war, involving fear and living under a constant threat, makes it “easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public” . It is used in order to take military actions against and invade any country without the need for further justification, as was the case with Iraq. So called terror suspects can now be detained and are stripped of all their rights in the name of the “war on terror”. The Bush administration has succeeded in portraying their role as “the protectors of a nation at great risk” to the vast majority of the American public, cleverly deterring from the true intentions of US presence in the Middle East, which began in the 1930’s. Outside America however, anti Americanism is growing quickly and reasons that drive Islamists to violent retaliation go beyond Bush’s simple explanation of “they hate our freedoms”.
US Presence in The Middle East and the Rise of Anti Americanism
Uncovered by the US media are the cold hearted actions and “broken Western promises regarding Arab independence” made over numerous decades, which along with the creation and support of Israel, have sparked Islamic Extremism and Fundamentalism in the Middle East. After World War 1 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which was a German ally, Britain and France dominated the Middle East and created new borders. After the end of World War 2, however, many European countries, including Britain, were left reconstructing and rebuilding their countries. This triggered the entrance of the US into the Middle East as they had become aware of the natural resources available in the region and needed the fuel for their “ever increasing output of automobiles”, or simply for their endless consumer driven society. As a result of Word War 2, the US evolved into “the sole and only great power” involved in the national affairs of the countries in the Middle East. Along with the vast resources of oil possessed by the Middle Eastern countries, the US established their presence by installing a network of “pro-Western Arab regimes” within the Middle East, for two other reasons. One being the existence, development and defense of Israel which was created in 1948 and, to this very day, is the main cause of anti Americanism.
In 1947 the Arab nations proposed at the United Nations that “Palestine be declared an independent state”. The measure was turned down and thus broke a British promise that would give Arabs their “long-sought independence” in return for the Arab support against the Ottoman Turks during World War 1. Toward the end of World War 1 the Bolsheviks unveiled a secret Anglo-French agreement which exposed that “Arab independence had never been seriously intended” . In November 1947 the UN voted to recommend the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish States. The terms stated “Arabs would get 43 percent of the land, the Jews 57 percent” and that the Jewish portion was “better land” . The United States was the main supporter of this partition and “aggressively promoted it among the other members of the UN”, as President Truman felt “personally moved by the tragedy of the Jews” and he thought “emigration” to Palestine was the “remedy for the surviving Jews of Europe” . Truman later exposed in his memoirs that he was “fully aware of the Arabs’ hostility to Jewish settlement in Palestine” and promised he would take no action without fully consulting the Arabs, yet he “reneged” . What followed was an escalation of violence between Jews and Arabs, the Jews obviously accepting the partition while the Arabs were outraged. Civil order in Palestine had broken down and before British troops left, “Zionist terrorist groups” attacked poorly armed Arab villages occupying additional land including “cities that were to be in the Palestinian state”. By Mid November 1947 the “Truman administration was firmly in the Zionist camp”. In 1948 as a result of the UN partition and also by Israeli force, a total of “78 percent of historic Palestine” (Pilger) was controlled by Israel. The heavy US involvement in the creation of Israel set the foundation for Arab resentment against the West. Turning dislike into deep rooted hatred against the US, was the Six Day War in 1967, in which Israel showed off its military power and devastated the air and ground forces of “Egypt, Syria, Jordan and occupied the Sinai, the Gaza Strip, The Golan Heights, the West Bank including East Jerusalem”. It established Israel as the premier military force in the region; only thanks to “American money” and support . Israel aware of its military superiority, displayed their arms on numerous occasions in battles throughout the region and expanded its territory within Palestine to occupy the” remaining 22 percent of Palestine” during the Six Day War. Throughout decades of tension in the Middle East, Israel found themselves backed by “a very powerful friend, the United States”. Palestinians fought with stones and slingshots against a modern Israeli army, “equipped with tanks, fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships” provided by the American government. To this day it is the longest “military occupation in modern time” and there have been an estimated “450 resolutions” at the UN Security Council calling for “justice for the Palestinians” . No country has incurred the “opprobrium of the world community as often as Israel” and at the same time no country has been excused for its “rogue behavior” thanks to its main sponsor, America. 9/11 finds a significant part of its answer in decades of support for Israel and the mixture of neglect and ignorance to the Arab nations concerning the Palestine issue. The “enormous suffering among the Palestinians and other Arabs” ultimately hurts both Israel and the US as the reaction is the birth of “increasingly militant and extremist elements” in the Arab and Islamic world.
The other purpose of setting up bases within the Middle East was to contain the spread of the Soviet Union and its growing influence in the area. In order to control resources in the region and crush the threat of Communism, the US made two devastating mistakes in the region, which were left ignored until the day of September 11th. It was the day Middle Eastern disaffection for the United States “was brought, violently, to the attention of official Washington”.
Firstly “dictatorships, monarchies and non democratic regimes” were set up in important oil producing countries in the Middle East to get the best possible deals for oil. Ruling families and people associated to the elites which were put to power by the United States, would profit the most and live in wealth. True Islamists condemned the government and elites for their life in extreme wealth as it contradicted the teaching of true Islam to always use everything in moderation as written in the Quran,“And those, who when they spend, are neither extravagant nor stingy, but hold a medium (way) between those (extremes)." (Soorat Al-Furqan, Verse 67). These true Muslims however faced “a police state” that kept them on a “very short leash” , which prohibited any kind of mass based political party or movement being formed. Any movements not absolutely agreeing with the pro Western regimes would be banned. Oppressed by their US backed governments, these Islamists were forced to gather secretly and voice their concerns within communities. An important factor to consider is that these Islamists up until the Cold War in Afghanistan had never been armed or dangerous; they were a part of the growing numbers of Muslims that saw their religion being negatively affected through US influence on their governments. This oppression within their own countries resulted in the rise of Islamists, not yet Islamist Extremists.
The second and most important major blow for the United States was the creating and recruiting of Islamists for a war against the threat of Communism. US propaganda in the Middle East was used to display Communism as evil and tried to convince Muslims that the US was a “peace loving” nation yet at the same time a military superpower to be reckoned with, differentiating from a “violent and disruptive” Soviet Union . Muslims were brainwashed into the idea that they had to fight a Holy Jihad against the Communists as they were trying to crush Islam. Jihad means struggle, something every Muslim must carry out within themselves in order to get rid of all the evil in their bodies to be able to live a peaceful life. This evil with the help of US propaganda was the Soviet Union. The CIA “started going all over the Muslim world recruiting people to fight” in order to form a “global anti Soviet alliance” . The CIA not only funded the Jihad against the Soviet Union, it also trained them. “Billions of dollars” were spent on training and weapons for the Islamic militias providing the “mujahedeen with US advisors and US made stinger antiaircraft missiles” . Armed Islamists had not been seen in the Middle East for centuries, “Now the CIA was determined to create one, to put a version of tradition at the service of politics”. It gave birth to Islamic Extremism, linking religion to war. The Afghan war against the Soviet Union recruited an estimated “100,000 Muslim Radicals from 40 countries” in what was known to be the “largest covert operation in the history of the CIA” . Ironically enough, the man the CIA once recruited to lead the Islamic insurgency in Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia, Osama Bin Laden, is now associated with being the mastermind behind 9/11. A major backlash in the whole Afghanistan operation however, is the fact that the United States never disarmed or set up a properly functioning government after the retreat of the Soviet Union. Highly trained, equipped and funded Islamic militias started to fight each other for control of Afghanistan. This all came at the cost of the Afghan people who have been living in a war torn country for the past several decades. These militias fighting for power eventually began to spread back to their countries and to other parts of the world after they had weakened each other so much that it gave way to a new tribal and Islamic movement, the Taliban, largely supported by Pakistan.
History of US Interventions – Causes of Arab Anger
The Afghan example of failed US intervention in the Middle East is just one of many since it began to spread its influence in the Middle East in the 1930’s. In 1953, the CIA backed a military coup of the Iranian government as they did not agree with oil policies introduced by then Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. The United States returned the exiled Shah to Iran who “ruled with an iron fist for more than a quarter century” and tortured and murdered thousands for the sole purpose of securing oil shares. What resulted however was disastrous. Decades of frustration built up within Iranian religious communities and it resulted in the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979, which saw over 10 million people storming the government buildings leading to the rise of Ayatollah Al Khomeini. He cut all ties and deals with the US and marked “the end of one of America’s strongest economic and strategic relationships in the Middle East” . During the Islamic Revolution the US embassy in Iran was stormed and “52 Americans” were held hostage, which turned out to be one of the most humiliating events in US history. What followed was the fuel for more Anti American feelings. In retaliation and in hopes of freeing the hostages, the US actively supported the Iraqi invasion of Iran. The Reagan administration removed Iraq from the list of terrorist countries in order to supply them with technological and military support, although it was proven that “Iraq was actively supporting terrorist groups such as Abu Nidal” . Chemical weapons were supplied along with intelligence information such as “Iranian troop concentrations” , in order to pursue the Iraqi invasion of Iran. It is rather ironic to note that the weapons supplied to Iraq then, were used 20 years later to partially justify the invasion of Iraq.
The list of US intrigue in the Middle East goes on, from Lebanon to the Gulf War, yet they are only further examples of the ruthlessness of the American government in pursuing its goals. The main goal of controlling oil, currently the most vital natural resource, fueled an endless consuming craze in the United States. What these events do portray is a justification for the anger Muslims have developed against the United States. Muslims are left to think “when the West looks at us, all it sees is oil and petrodollars”. This oil greed by the West has not only cost millions of Muslim lives over the years, it is also destroying Islam as a whole. The leaderships set up by the West in the early 1900’s have “increasingly been at odds or seen to be at odds, with Islamic values” . Considering these factors, it is difficult to not understand anti American feelings among Arabs. The Bush administration saw the causes of the 9/11 attacks in “a deep misunderstanding of the United States and its policies”. For someone not brainwashed by American propaganda, 9/11 was an act of retaliation. Although the attacks of 9/11 are to be utterly condemned, they resulted from decades of US intervention in the Middle East, arming, training and creating Islamic Extremists and from making “a mess of the whole region” (Madhusoodanan).
The War on Terror, Propaganda and Muslims as Scapegoats
Bush asked “Why do they hate us?” after 9/11, looking for a reason why the attacks took place. Considering the history of US actions within the Middle East, the question of “Why do they not hate us?”, would have been more appropriate. However the depressing fact is that the US public is being fed only the information and news that the US government approves of, so Bush’s initial question was actually the view of the American public at the time. The US administration has succeeded in “deflecting the obvious conclusion that its blunders are responsible for the debacle” . Journalists find themselves being threatened for “revealing what the government does not think the public has a right to know”. The majority of American society believes they are engaged in a “global war on terror” and ever-increasingly, Islam is being brought into context with the word terrorist. It has literally created a “culture of fear” and the media keeps the public anxious and “uncertain of another terrorist act in the United States”. The “war on terror” has numerous disturbing facets. Firstly, no specific enemy is being pointed out, it is simply a war on every nation or organization that the US government considers terrorist affiliated. Iraq is a prime example of how the United States needs no legitimate reason to invade a country, except for linking it to possibly possessing dangerous weapons or supporting terrorists. The invasion of Iraq has led to the loss of over “a million” Iraqi lives , which, again, is a spark of aggression towards the United States within the Middle East.
Another facet of the “war on terror” is the discrimination of Muslims. The CIA has worldwide prisons set up in order to detain terror suspects and strip them of any legal rights to question them and also torture them. Often enough, these are innocent Muslims detained and tortured in Europe and other parts of the world, “wrongfully imprisoned and denied of their rights to a fair trial” all in the name of Bush’s “fear mongering war” . Muslims face increased discrimination in Western countries as they are seen as terrorists. In return this sparks further hatred towards the West, as it is not the “war on terror that angers Muslims, it is the victimization of Arab civilians”. Public discrimination and extra security screenings have become a norm for Arabs. Especially airports showcase the “special caution” officials take when they are dealing with a possible suspect from the “axis of evil”, as Bush once referred to the Middle East. The vast majority of times, individuals who fit into the Arabic stereotype are the ones seen undergoing the additional screenings and searches. It just shows how far precautions come when it concerns possible suspects of the “war on terror”. In the West the discrimination and pessimistic views of Muslims are seen as necessary steps in order to filter out terrorists, while in the Arabic world this treatment fuels more hostility towards the United States.
Final Thoughts
It is difficult to not understand Muslim anger towards the United States, as the Middle East has, for decades, been used for oil, even at the cost of human lives. Traditional Islam is fading away as Western influence impacts large parts of Islamic society in the Middle East, and encourages a growing number of Muslims to live a life in extreme wealth and surplus, ignoring traditional Islamic values of living in moderation. Living in the Middle East, Muslims in general, focus their anti Americanism feeling towards the American government and not on American people. They are able to live peacefully with Westerners, even if they have many reasons as to why they should be angry at them. Living in the United States, opinions of Muslims are much more negative and hateful, mainly due to the September 11th attacks. Although 9/11 cannot be justified or excused in any way, it is hard to believe how a single self- inflicted event, caused by an enemy once self-created, can lead to the hatred and discrimination of a whole culture. The answer lies greatly within propaganda. It is the enemy within. In the United States with the “absence of alternative views”, it is no surprise that the people’s reaction to the brainwashing of the war on terror is “we must do something” which leads to the quick conclusion “we must bomb them” . During the era of the Cold War, US propaganda was “a tool in an anticommunist crusade. Today it is a facet of the US war on terrorism”(Shah). Now just as then, it is a remedy for anti- Americanism. At the end of the day however, the US is a global superpower and it is simply trying to justify its ruthless, egoistic ambitions in the name of another threat, whether one buys into it or not.



THOMAS KRUG







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