Did we (as Americans) provoke the 9-11 terrorist attacks?

Question

with our past policies in the Middle East, such as our backing of Israel, and our involvement in the Gulf War?

And could more have been done to prevent the attacks?

Answer 1

we didn't provoke the attacks. its not our fault that terrorist are f*ck up

Answer 2

Let's imagine you're right (and you very well could be). Say our actions "provoked" the attacks on 9-11.

Now that we've accepted that for a second, do you really think that matters in the grand scheme of things? Doing the right thing is essential. To look the other way when our help is needed is what has screwed us in the past (cough, Germany), and would be an immoral thing to do just because we are worried about backlash and future attacks.

No one could have known the extent our presence in the Middle East would have played. Even if we knew, I would easily argue that many of the actions we took were necessary and should be done all over again even if we had the chance to go back and renege...


You don't prevent future attacks by being timid or reluctant. You present a consistent front, which is what we've done. You exhaust diplomacy before you take the next step. Iraq was a problem in the making. They had refused to comply with 17 U.N. resolutions. You won't see us deal with other countries the same way, until the same kind of diplomacy has been tried...

Answer 3

We, were not the cause; however, our generation has and will continue to feel the repricutions of past policies of the U.S. Government as well as our supporting the Zionist Jews, plus colonialism during the Ottoman Empire and UK rule.

Hundreds of years (even thousands), these people have been oppressed by everyone (Jews, Christians, Turks, UK, Russia, US, as well as each other due to different tribes and their different beliefs in their Koran, and I'm sure that is a short list). All they know is poverty, war, and savagery. They still have chiefs, and nothing has changed with regards to their way of dressing and praying. It really depends on what part of the Middle East one is discussing.

They hate us for who we are and what we have; however, they also want what we have . . . to a certain extent.

Why is it that only a few families reap all the riches? Doesn't anyone think that the large amount of wealth from the oil that comes out of their countries should be partially all of the peoples, not just certain families? There are the obscenely wealthy and then the uber poor. No middle class. Kind of like what is starting to happen to this Country. Thanks to B*** and his cronies.

Especially, over the last almost 100 years, their countries have been used for their natural resources, with their countries landscapes raped (basically) with no consideration for environmentalistic improvements in that part of the World. Also, the oil companies move in after the basic infrastructures are built by the poor of the region, they are promised a lot of things that they never get, they give the people a little hope, and then bring their own people in, and/or subcontract it to run the drilling and corporatations. Then those that had been working toward a goal (like to feed their families), are fired, not given what they were promised by these big corporations and their people. How many times would you let this happen to you? After a while, would you even offer to work for any of these companies? Not me.

Think if the roles were reversed. In our time of troubles what do we do (most of us anyway)? We turn to our religion. We have some really warped, right-wing religious leaders out there that if they had their way, there would be no separation of church and state and everyone would pretty much have to be Christians. Just imagine Pat Robertson making all the decisions for this country with his VP Jerry Falwell and Rob Parsley as Secretary of Defense.

The Muslim Religion and the unbelievable faith in what the Koran promises them in the next life is unwavering . . . they have no doubt about any of it whatsoever (or so it seems). That gives them a somewhat warped hope for death. They do not believe in separation of church and state of any kind. They will always be a theocracy no matter what Bush wants to happen. Their religious leaders are the ones who tell their government leaders what is to be done. Just look at Iran now. Also, the stronger tribes and their beliefs will be forced upon the lesser tribes and their religious leaders.

This is a never-ending war. This may be the last war that every religion talks about. Who knows, but this cut-and-run BS that the Republicans keep trying to use against the Dems is a sad attempt at trying to spin everything that has gone wrong or will continue to go wrong on the Dems. The Republicans know there will always be troops over there permanently to protect their big oil pipeline. That's right! They are building 14 military bases that run ever so many miles apart right on top of the new oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea. Also, there is a huge American Complex being built as well.

There is no "exit strategy" and never was because there were never any plans to "exit."

Answer 4

Many other attacks have been prevented before and after 9/11.

Of course we brought it on ourselves- by being alive we go against everything the die hard Islamic Jihad members believe in. Our way of life is caustic to them. This is not to say that Islam is bad, only that one particular sect. If more could be done, don't you think we'd've done it? And think back to the Cuban Missile crisis. We didn't know we were a few minutes from getting bombed until after the whole thing was over. There are conflicts and near attacks all the time that we block... 9/11 slipped past our radars. We do tons everyday to prevent attacks.

Answer 5

Not you as Americans, the American government's foreign policy. Most average Americans have nothing to do with it, and a government isn't its people.
But thank you for recognizing that it's not just a completely random occurrence.
You are a rich, prominent, very outspoken country, and the people who did the 9/11 bombings are fanatics. No amount of security could have prevented an eventual attack. Realistically speaking, I don't think we can talk about preventing SOME kind of attack. Most other countries also have their terrorist tragedies. That's why the world extended its sympathy to the U.S. immediately afterwards.

Answer 6

no i do not see any reason why the americans provoked 9-11 but any how what did we do to the iraqi people. all we didwas defend our national and the rest of the world be disarming the horrible dictator suddam hussain. and the terrorist are ruthless they will kill 700 of there own people just to kill 40-100 us people but in 9-11 at age 9 i was emotianly struck because the terrorist killed thousands of people and also one of my aunts was killed in the planes that destroyed the twin towers and also if the terrorist brought there men to the us they wouldnt stand a chance becaus on the first east coast the southern and north 18million people have 3 or more guns.

Answer 7

This is someone's thesis, not really a short answer...but to summarize:

1) Provoke is an interesting word...I think we did provoke them in the same way that we would have felt that the British or the Japanese provoked us...but I think most people confuse "provoke" with "deserve," and I don't think we deserved 9-11...

2) Sure...we could have paid more attention, since we claim to have known about all of these people for years...typical of us, reactive vs. proactive, but I'm in the advantageous position of believing that the government really could have done something without knowing so for sure...who knows what I would have done in their place...

Answer 8

Absolutely...

Our policy in the Middle East as well as backing Israel at the expense of Palestinian lives has been our downfall... As a American Muslim, I can honestly say it was no surprise when it happened... The United States needs to remove itself from all Muslim countries in order for these nations to feel safer knowing that Israel/India/USA wont come after them...

The root cause of Sept. 11th has not been addressed yet and this war on terror is targeted towards Muslims.... you even see India referring to Kashimis as terrorists, Israel refers to Palestinians as terrorists...

The United States intends to keep a foot in each country while monitoring and guiding the politics of each country in their favor... this is why the elite governments are Pro-American, while the majority of the people are so Anti-American.

Answer 9

A price was paid in our support of Israel and in our general handling of the muslim world.
But also we left Afghanistan to become a huge AlQueda training ground - abandoning the country after our objective of keeping the Soviets out of there by backing the Mujahadin. If we had paid a hundreth of the money to Afghanistan that we are dumping into Iraq today - the Taliban might never have taken power, the Al Queda camps might never have come to exist. If we care so much about democracy in these - why did we just abandon Afghanistan?

Answer 10

I don't believe that we did as much to provoke the 9-11 attacks as we are doing to provoke terrorist attacks in the future. I mean, hello ... war in Iraq!

Answer 11

Perhaps. But really, these people have an unquenchable desire to see anything western wiped off the face of the earth. They would have found an excuse one way or another. Plus, we cannot let what might provoke militant groups dictate our foreign policy.