What where the motivators for terrorists attacks at 9/11?

First of all, the perpetrators were extremists. They do rash things like hijack planes from time to time but are not indicative of the general mid east populace.

The US has been angering people in the mideast since the end of WWII. Afghanistan really became a haven for terrorism after the USSR tried to invade. The US went in and made some questionable allies (such as Osama bin Laden) who were going to fight the soviets. The US made promises to Afghanistan which they never made good on once the Soviets were out of the picture. As a result, Afghanistan was left a barren war torn land and their people suffered greatly. This is an act they refer to as “The Great Betrayal”.

In addition, the US unilaterally supports Israel which has established itself as an enemy of just about every other nation in the region. The US donates billions of dollars yearly and provides them with arms which they use to be aggressive toward their neighboring countries.

There are several other reasons that extremists in the region hate America.

The conventional explanation is that U.S. policy and influence in the Middle East coupled with fanatical forms of Islam has bred a terrorist apparatus that is primarily concerned with getting non-Islamic influences (including western capitalism) out of the Middle East. Secondarily, to convert as much of the world as possible to Islam. When done under a radical umbrella, this includes through the destruction of non-Islamic institutions and people.

There are many other 9/11 threads on fluther if you’d like to look for other perspectives.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic but I was meaning more like religious motivation. Because in that case I have also many reasons to hate America, I mean, americans have taken half of our territory, for a start. Im not a nationalist or a militarist at all, but Ive thinked, if I ever get into the army it will be to defend my land from the US. Pretty much anyone in the world has reasons to hate america.

@kevbo yeap, I already searched(google, wikipedia, fluther, teachers,etc) but no one has told me the religious reasons for that. I dont think just political hate is enough to do something like that. There must be some religious fundamentalist rationale and I want to know what is it.

So you want to take up arms against the US?

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Im not saying that at all. Please dont put words in my mound.I dont want to take arms. Im saying that if the US(or any other imperialist country) invade my land I will do make whatever is in my power to defend my family and my country as it is my duty.

The religious reasons are not the main reasons middle eastern extremists attacked the US and US interests. That is merely fuel to the fire. The reasons for the conflicts in the middle east boil down to disputed land and resources as most wars do.

It was so people can make a dedicated level in the game ” Little Big Planet ”

they needed a “justification” for invading afghanistan and subsequently iraq, to secure oil reserves

@ragingloli 9/11 isn’t why America invaded Iraq – Iraq had no ties to al Qaeda. It was because of the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq possessed… no wait, there weren’t any of those either… Oh, it was because Saddam Hussein was an oppressive leader! (third time’s the charm…)

The answer is 72.

@jfos there are a lot of oppressive leaders. Curiously, the US doesn’t seem to care about them. North Korea for example.Kim Yong-il is worse dictator than Saddam, and he even admits to develop WMDs, but did the US even consider invading the country?

@ragingloli You can’t invade North Korea for two reasons. They have nukes, and China would never allow it. But you are right. Other good would be “democracies” in africa, that clearly have problems, The US has a tradition of worsening the democratic condition as well as helping them. Chile, Haiti, El Salvador…

Real democracy comes from the people itself. It did in the west. You can’t force or teach democracy. It has to grow into the public mind.

Depends on what version you want to hear. There are basically 4:

1. Official US version (Bush version): “a bunch of crazy guys attacked us for no reason. They’re just crazy. We never did anything to deserve this. Death to all Arabs!”

2. Official Al Quaida version: “We never did any such thing, but if we had done it, it would have been because of Israel’s aggression in the Middle East and the US support for the genocide. But we insist, it wasn’t us. It was God’s hand that moved those planes. And btw we’re freedom fighters, not terrorists”.

3. Slightly more complicated, unofficial US version (people with an IQ higher than Bush): “ok, we’ve been messing up the world for a while now, and people don’t like being bullied around like that. It was just a matter of time before something like this would happen. Perhaps we should re-think our international policy and use diplomacy more” (seems Obama also falls into that category)

4. Conspiracy theory: “It was all orchestrated by the CIA. They organised it together with Osama Bin Laden, just like they killed Kennedy”.

Even though #4 does sound ridiculous, it’s the one I personally agree with most. No, I don’t think it was exactly “planned” in that way, or at least I’m willing to believe that perhaps it wasn’t. But it was allowed to happen (perhaps certain people in key positions made things easy on purpose). And the reason was that the US needed an excuse to attack Afghanistan. Most of the hi-jackers were from Germany, so why not bomb Berlin instead? I don’t think there was a single Afghan on those planes.

@Jack79 True, but they were of saudi origin mostly.

One thing that really makes me tired and lose hope sometimes is the very common attitude in Africa and countries like Indonesia, that HIV and the flu-epidemics are created and planted by USA, to kill off black africans and muslims.

I agree that the US and CIA has done so much damage and that there are grounds for distrust. I know that some CIA operations has been unbelievable, Like exploding a bomb at a mosque killing innocent civilians to guise as a terrorist attack. Sending exploding packages to Fidel. But paranoia gets you nowhere really.

Islamic fundamentalists are angered primarily about two things:

1. U.S. support of the Israeli state, which they believe has no right to exist.
2. Presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, the national home of Mecca and Medina and Islam’s cultural center.

And to a lesser extent, what they view has the fundamental corruption of Western culture.

Terror.

The hijackers are Muslim. Their religion promotes martyrism.

The main problem is that anti-Americanism goes unchallenged in most of the world. Governments use it with abandon to divert their people’s attention from the real problems. Sure, these guys might have been indoctrinated in Madrassas. But the thing is, they didn’t spend 24 hours a day every single day of their lives in Madrassas. Extremists Imams aren’t the only people they’ve ever talked to. The truth is, whether you’re in Paris, Tehran, Moscow, Pyongyang, Riyad, if the weather is bad everyone around you blame the US because they’ve heard the US denigrated everyday since they were born.

There’s no doubt in my mind the US has got to be more involved in what is being said about it in sensitive areas of the world, basically what China is doing right now: buying news outlets in foreign countries to “influence” public opinion.

(...officially stops following yet another thread)

@Jack_Haas you don’t think this AnttiAmericanism might be justified?

@ragingloli I know it isn’t.

@Jack_Haas Elaborate !?

@Jack_Haas no you don’t, it most definitely is justified, it’s funny how some people on here are anti-anti America, bullies are like that, they bully people and are astonished when it causes resentment, or retaliation….any way apart from that good thread, **modest hand clap**

Money, power and greed.

Pure hatred.