Today in History: 9/11 attacks that changed the US for good

Today in History: 9/11 attacks that changed the US for good

“9/11 attacks,” a phrase echoed in the last 19 years. Perhaps you’ve heard it a few times but are unsure what these attacks were.

A combination of related and unrelated issues, coupled with sheer wickedness of the heart of man, led to the disaster that snatched the lives of 3000 people from all walks of life from them on the morning of September 11, 2001.

First is the Israel factor. After World War Two, and the aftermath of the Holocaust, the UN created the state of Israel in 1948, with Jerusalem, the ancient city as its capital. But Palestine was already occupying Jerusalem, also laying claim to it as its capital, thus, the Israel-Palestinian war which hasn’t been settled to this day.

The US is an ally of Israel and supports them in the War; for now, most countries don’t deal with Jerusalem as the capital of both countries just in order to avoid taking sides. Subsequent US presidents, including Obama, have promised to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but failed except Donald Trump who did so in 2017- but that’s just by the way.

And so Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda, who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks stated for US’s support of Israel against Palestine, an Arab nation as one of the reasons for the attacks.

Another reason stated by Bin Laden was US sanctions on Iraq, another Arab country. Iraq had annexed Kuwait for political and economic gains and when they defied US’ orders to retreat, the US invaded Iraq in a series of battles coupled with sanctions on the Middle East country.

Lastly, the Al-Qaeda was not enthused about the bandwagon relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia and cited the presence of US Troops in Saudi as one of its reasons.

The US has always fought terrorism so terrorism also fights them; therefore the reasons stated by the Jihadist group is just a slice of it. Other reasons include US support for attacks against Muslims worldwide, according to Al-Qaeda.

On that September morning, four passenger flights departed New York and were destined for the Western part of the USA when they were all hijacked by 19 terrorists.

In less than twenty minutes, two of them were crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City. The third plane was crashed into the US Pentagon in Virginia. The fourth plane was flown toward D.C. but the passengers fought the hijackers forcing them to crash in a field in Pennsylvania.

US Declared war on terror and invaded Afghanistan, removed their government, the Taliban which created a haven for terrorists and went on a decade long trajectory that ended in 2011 with the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

US foreign policy changed for good, especially on whom to allow on US soil.

9/11 is described as the single deadliest terrorist attack in human history.

Source - Oswald Azumah