Causes and consequences of September 11, 2001

THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF 9/11

According to researcher and scholar Peter Bergen, exactly what caused the September 11, 2001 attacks by alleged terrorists against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. is not fully known nor understood, due to the extremely complex nature of America's relationship with the Middle East and with those who align themselves with extremists Islamic groups and even al Qaeda. Bergen points out a number of possible causes, including abject poverty in some countries in the Middle East, the teaching of madrasas in Muslim religious schools which may serve as "the breeding ground for terrorists," deep-seated hatred of all free Americans and for the CIA, weak and failing states in the Middle East which act as "attractive bases for terrorists and criminals," the financial backing of Saudi financiers who sponsored al Qaeda, the result of occupation by the United States in the Middle East, and lastly, a clash between totalitarian ideologies, similar in nature to that between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However, all of these suggested causes are flawed for a number of reasons. Yet Bergen maintains that the true cause of the attacks was simply "collateral damage in a civil war within the world of political Islam" with Osama Bin Laden on one side and the "silent majority of Muslims" who wish to deal with the West in diplomatic/political terms while rejecting violence ("What Were the Causes of 9/11?" Internet). The consequences of the attacks on 9/11 are quite obvious. First of all, as a result of these attacks, the United States was forced to confront a new enemy in the form of Islamic extremists who wish to overthrow American democracy and replace it with a religious-based Islamic theocracy. Second, the United States and its foreign allies like Great Britain were forced to create new security systems to ward off potential future attacks. But the most devastating consequence is the loss of national security for all Americans and the threat that the American way of life may be in peril.