How do you think Terrorists WANTED us to react to 9-11? What did they want to provoke us to do?

Question

Do you think they intended there to be a war in the Middle East? What reaction do you think they were hoping for or what reaction do you think they expected?

I know its impossible for you to think like a terrorists ( unless you are one ) but I often wonder with all the planning it took to pull off if they once thought about the reation or impact , and if they had some higher goal other than killing innocent people, I don't know but I do wonder about it.

Answer 1

What they wanted was "we give up, we give up, don't hurt us again!". What they got was bombs up there butts.

Answer 2

This is an obvious answer. The terrorists wanted us to up our military budget, and allow them to turn the US into a police state.

Coragryph, do have any idea just how right you are?? Me wonders who's hiding behind your use of pronouns though..also, a cultural, contextual, and political review of the seige as well as 9/11 appear in the book "Why Do People Hate America" There are more than 7 people answering this question who i do not believe have any sort of clue whatsoever of the US's foreign policies... or the political reasons behind many of the wars the US has entered.. The book also discusses those.

Also, the term "terrorist" is an abstract term and can be applied to any person for any act so long as it is debated correctly. so, in fact, anyone can think like a terrorist because the word is subjective, meaning it can mean anything, and anyone.

Ah and I found the link i was searching for: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1036571,00.html

Answer 3

The intent, back in 1996, was to draw the U.S. into a war, a war of ideology, of culture, of religion, of beliefs. I don't think the U.S. government quite understood the determination of OBL/Al Qaeda, and found out in a costly way that the executional assets that Al Qaeda possesses don't care about living, not here anyway. I think that the terrorist element that still exists today is feeling rather comfortable and confident, in that the U.S. has yet to capture the planning and funding elements of terrorism (they're great at catching the 'DOERS', of which there may be millions).

No one in the hills of Afghanistan or Pakistan believes the U.S. citizen is innocent. We are all guilty of something or another to them, and therefore we are all expendable. There is no middle ground, it is literal Quran or death, or both in the case of homicide bombers.

I don't think the U.S. reaction was clear, concise and effective. The Taliban is cutting deals with Musharraf as I type, is this the 'toppling' we were told of in 2002? Hezbollah claims to have 'won' the conflict with Israel this summer, is this the 'dismantling' we were attempting? Iran is defiant about nuclear technology and openly supports Shi'ite terrorism, is this the defeat of the Axis of Evil we were seeking? Kim launches test weapons towards the U.S. and Japan, is this the containment we had hoped for?

Unfortunately, the U.S. has not acted forcefully, whatsoever, in responding to 9/11. There are troops scaling hills and ducking IEDs and shooting at each other, but the Taliban and Al Qaeda and Hezbollah and Hamas still live. WHY? Because we grant them a humane standing among the civilized global society when they do not extend the same courtesy to us.

In war, victory is assured when victory is the only result that is satisfactory. We are too content with half-wins, compromises, disengagement and insufficient troop levels to beat this maniacal and well-funded movement. Psy-Ops won't work, Islam is a 1500 year old faith, there's no undoing that kind of legacy. What needs to be done is what we're doing in Iraq, which is introducing a different kind of citizen-to-state dialogue called democracy. What also needs to be done is an open and intentional attack on all terrorist leaders so their followers can see that immortality and martyrdom are achieved through brutal and swift death, something the younger kids will think twice about before signing up. We must reinforce the positives of the future by cleansing it of the horror and degradation of extreme Islam. There is no glory for the Palestinian teenager or Pakistani student, only death, and until that message is LOUD AND CLEAR in the eyes and ears of Islam, we will continue to react, back-track and settle for half-wins. The world must know, unquestionably, who they are dealing with and what we'll put up with. And so far, unfortunately, we've put up with 13 years of terrorism in the U.S., enough is enough.

Answer 4

You have to understand where these people come from, and what their core beliefs are. Without that, any attempt to understand what they wanted to accomplish will be met with failure. And no, Denzel Washington does not understand the terrorist mindset.

First, understand that a Muslim terrorist is not the least bit concerned with what happens on earth. His goal is to please Allah. Everything that is in the Koran is a given. To teh radical Muslim, the world will become Islamic whether they do nothing or act. Acting however is the way to please Allah, because it is the duty of all Muslims to bring the kingdom of Allah to earth.

Bin Laden was responding to our presence in Saudi Arabia. But some people think it ends there. That is not it. Bin Laden sees the Koran, and the Method of Muhammed, playing out now. In Mohammed's time, he had to deal with infidels occupying the Muslim holy land, as bin Laden saw the Americans doing now. Mohammed attacked his enemies in order to incite them to a larger battle, in which he was victorious. This is what bin Laden was trying to do. By attacking the US he was hoping that it would cause the Muslim world to rise up and destroy the US and the rest of western civilization so that he could institute a global Caliphate under Shari'a law. Attacking the US was just the means of doing it, because that's the same strategy that Mohammed used.

Bin Laden, and every other militant Muslim, sees the prophesies of the Koran as absolute, predetermined certainties. There WILL be an Islamic world. Infideles WILL all be crushed or converted. There is no free will in Islam. It is all Allah's will. Even unbelievers are just so because Allah wills it, and thereby wills their death. All that remains for the dutiful Muslim to do is appeal to Allah by doing everything in his power to carry out that certain end-state and ensure his place in heaven.

Answer 5

They were not expecting anything because nothing retaliatory was done by Clinton and Carter when they committed all the terrorist acts before GW. They will keep doing these type things whether Iraq and Afghanistan had happened or not.(as long as they are able). Their higher goal is to convert all people to the Muslim religion.

Answer 6

My guess, they were rolling with laughter at the thought that we were going full bore after Saddam. We did go after Osama, but sort of half-assed, and he must have just been shaking his head the whole time Bush was trumpeting his propaganda about what a threat Iraq was.

I'm sure Osama bin Laden knew we would retaliate. I went and saw Bill Clinton speak, after we had invaded Iraq, and he referred to bin Laden as "a very smart, very intelligent man; make no mistake, he is a worthy opponent." Regardless of what you think of Clinton's stupidity with Ms. Lewinsky, he's a very intellectually gifted man, and he accords bin Laden serious respect.

I imagine bin Laden was perfectly happy to see us go into Iraq; he probably would have been happy with any retaliatory efforts we made, and the more, the better. I think he was trying to get us to demonize ourselves in the eyes of the Muslim world, and thus kick-start a holy war. He's succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

Really good question; you are making me think.

Answer 7

I think they believed America was a paper tiger of sorts and would not retalliate that fiercely, as they attacked the U.S.S Cole back in 2000, and it took almost a year later to retaliate, and we didn't even kill Bin Laden. They probably underestimated our strength, and expected us to invade the middle east with the hopes they would defeat us like they did the Russians!

Answer 8

The terrorist that blew up the 1st plane into the WTC M. Atta had the mentality and saw the WTC as the US monetary supply to the world and thought he could cripple our economy and the rest of the world. These radicals are extreme in their religious beliefs and did all this in the name of Alla, their God. Their goal was to cripple the US in some way, loss of life, financial, etc.

Answer 9

Well the people that committed 9/11 certainly attained their goal.
Bush wanted the oil, so he had to come up with an excuse to go to war in Iraq, and he and his advisers concocted 9/11. Well the original plan was meant to happen in 1965 to give Americans an excuse to go to war in Cuba. They needed public backing and needed to frighten people in to thinking they were in danger.

That's the whole scary truth!

Answer 10

They main goal of a terrorist is just that to rule with terror. They wanted to paralyze and dis-unify the United States of America. After seeing how President Clinton reacted to the bombing on the WTC in the 90's and the bombing of the USS Cole, why would they have any reason to think that this President wouldn't KOWTOW to them as well. It's all about fear. The difference is they bombed us on Bush's watch.

Answer 11

Well, Osama wanted to remove Saddam from power. Which Bush happily did. He wanted to paint the U.S. as a bad guy that didn't care for the rule of law. Bush has done that as well. Osama wanted to push export terrorism and his brand of ideology. Which has happened. Take a look at Somalia. And all of this with the help of the Bush Administration.