Critical Analysis of Messages to the World

Cassandra Monteiro

Terrorism

April 13^th 2018

Critical Analysis of Messages of the World

            The terror sent out from Osama Bin Laden and other members of Al Qaeda is something those living in America will never forget, and is still to this day one of the most tragic events in United States history. Though we all know and mostly understand this part of it, we have never really tried to understand where all of this violence and tragedy was coming from. The thoughts of Osama Bin Laden himself were eye-opening, and intriguing. Examining the past repression and history of the Muslims and what made them turn into a well-known terrorist group made me think about this act of terrorism in a way I never have before.

            The truth of it is, the corruption and the repression of the people of Islam was a very prevalent part of their history. This situation with the Americans and the Jewish was not the first time this has happened. They have been viewed as such a week country, and they believed that those with more power thought of their property and wealth as merely loot. They were willing to gain this through any means possible, even through invasions with guns and bombs leading to the deaths of many of their own people. Considering themselves the victims in the situation, they believe that their fighting is a defensive war and is the only method of self-defense that would cause any changes or immediate actions.

            This idea is something we see a lot in the cases of terrorism, a claim that the violence is the only thing that will work. In the case of Al Qaeda this comes with the support of their religious views. They believe that God wants them to fight for their injustices to be taken away, and equality to be put in place. You should fight as hard as you can even if that means death, because if you fight for this you will achieve the highest level of heaven. God is a huge figure in their fight against the United States, and he would help them achieve victory despite the U.S. being so powerful.

            According to Osama not only was the violence the only thing that would work but it is also what the United States deserved. They view their actions as an eye for an eye. Many Muslim people had been killed on their own land, for decades and nobody viewed this as terrorism. But when they attack the United States it is viewed as one of the largest terrorist acts in the world. Al Qaeda sees this as hypocritical and believes they have to attack back to balance out the terror. Their attacks were the first time that America had seen a shift in the balance because they usually “do as they please”. This is why it was such a big deal, which was different than when the Americans attacked them. Power played a huge role in this case of terrorism, and once again as we see in many cases of terrorism, a power shift was one of the motives.

            Though the goal of Al Qaeda was not to kill children or innocent civilians Osama claims this to be one of the tragedies that came along with this act. Their goal was to attack buildings that related to power and wealth which was why the Twin Towers and Pentagon were targeted. They wanted to cause economic chaos in the United States and they achieved this goal because after their attack there were major changes in the Wall Street Market. Osama Bin Laden said that “the events that happened on September 11 2001 in New York and Washington are truly great events by any measure”.  Once again they relayed this back to God, claiming these major changes were thanks to “God’s grace”. He was helping them achieve what was right in their eyes.

            Though nothing could ever make the actions of Al Qaeda right and just in my eyes, I do see how there could have been an immense frustration within the Muslim people as they had been going through this repression for a long time. They truly wanted to do what was right for their country and seemed to think negative of ALL people who did not allow this to happen for them.  They were willing to do anything to end this repression including violence with an even more intense form of violence. I do not believe this actions were the correct ones to take but what if this truly was all they could do? They had tried for so long and nothing was coming out of it, what if they were just showing that they do indeed hold some form of power, and should no longer be repressed the way they were for so long? In a way I can see how things turned out the way they did.