Why did terrorists want to attack the US on 9/11?

Question

This is 9/11, pre Iraq. I am not interested in hearing Iraq as an excuse. What about BEFORE Iraq. What motivated whoever perpetrated 9/11 to their actions?

Answer 1

Jealousy, 'they' have been around for thousands of years & continue to live like it. The US is but 256 years old and we are the greatest, most modern, richest, freest, strongest nation in the world. nah nah nah nah nah!

Answer 2

It's really quite obvious. We have had a long history of foreign policy with regard to the Middle East that has led many to regard us as an imperialist power.

The placement of US troops on holy lands in Saudi Arabia, the 1953 CIA coup toppling the democratic government of Iran for our oil interests, the on again off again diplomacy with Iran, Bin Laden, and Iraq before the Gulf War, and of course- our continued support for Israel.

Since 9/11, the terrorists have gained plenty of reasons to hate America. For example, the unnecessary invasion of Iraq, how we claim to be fighting for democracy but instead totally ignore the majority of Iraq calling for us to get out and at the same time give support to the most despotic and undemocratic governments such as those of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and the prisoner abuses at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib.

Answer 3

American influence in the Middle East. The US needs the oil from there. During the Cold War era there was a threat of the Soviet Union invading it and controlling the area. To counter the Soviet threat at times America had to support some brutal regimes, such as the Shah in Iran. The CIA trained death squads to keep the Shah in power. During the Iran Iraq conflict the US supported both sides in hopes that neither would win. Hundreds of thousands were killed by the US keeping the war going. America also supports Israel. There were two main reasons for this. 1. The Jews needed somewhere to live after WW2 and it was there ancestral homeland. 2. In the case of a Soviet invasion we had a place to safely land troops to counter the invasion. Many Arabs lost their homes when the Jews moved in. During the Persian Gulf War Saudi Arabia allowed US troops to use it as a base of operations. Saudi Arabia is Holy Land for Muslims, and did not like any Western influence being there. I believe all the US has done in the Middle East was necessary in order to keep our way of life. Unfortunately many in that part of the world lost their lives because of it. To give an easier to understand answer look at local American news. Many times we see something such as a Wal-Mart trying to build in a neighborhood and the people don’t want it. Think if a country came into America and started drilling for oil in these same neighborhoods and there was nothing we could do to stop it. It would make people extremely angry and violent. By attacking the US, like on 9/11, they knew they could not destroy America. On the same hand they knew America would fight back. There is an old war fighting tactic the Colonies used to defeat the British, a superior army at the time. What they did was drain the British economy and get the people tired of the war and just leave. The same tactic is what our countries enemies are using on us. Drain our economy and get us tired of war. What it boils down to is they don’t want any Western influence on their countries. America will eventually leave both Iraq and Afghanistan. However, if the US continues to influence the Middle East in ways that make the people in that region angry they have no choice but to provoke war again. Just to set my record straight, I believe what the US did at times in the Middle East was necessary, to save our way of life and to counter the Soviet threat, and possibly a much larger war. It is unfortunate thought it cost so many lives.

Answer 4

I don't really know the reason behind the attack but I can certainly see why by our misfortune they chosed somewhere like the World Trade Center. Because it was a well known national icon that was the epiotome of all that represented Americans. A lot of innocent people died that day that had nothing to do with the Iraqis' political cause. And that's the saddest loss of it all.

Answer 5

Anybody who believes the "16 untrained Arab pilots with box cutters" myth should be wearing a tin-foil hat.

No steel building in history has ever collapsed from fire... It's just not possible. Even the force of the aircraft hitting the building wouldn't be enough to make it fall like it did, as it withstood hundreds of times more force of the overall impact of wind throughout the years. No, there's only one thing that could have brought those towers down:

Controlled demolitions.

Answer 6

A radical Islamist movement has been pursued and supported
primarily by Iran but also by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia,
Libya, Afghanistan, Syria and others since to 1970's, and it's main focus was destroying America, Israel and the rest of the worlds infidels and this has been the mindset behind not only 9-11 but the thousands of other attacks against the west that have occurred during that time. Unfortunately we still insist on seeing this as criminal activity, it isn't, it is a military matter but
our political correctness is so blinding us to that fact that we really don't have a chance of winning the "war" on terror.

Answer 7

Iraq was the reason for 9/11, the first time round.
after the war US troops stayed on "holy land" and this obviously pissed off some people,
whether that is the real reason we will never know but its the one the terrorists gave.

Answer 8

Osama bin Laden said the reasons he attacked America were that America supports the Israeli state and he said the tipping point was when Americans built bases in the Muslim holy city of Mecca during the Gulf War.

His anger at the Americans being stationed in Mecca was evident when soon after they set up bases in Mecca, the attacks on US interests in the Middle East by al-Qaeda started.

Answer 9

Osama Bin Laden ordered the attack because the infidels (US soldiers) were on sacred muslim land (Saudi). At least that's what he said. The real reason is he wanted to disrupt the US financial market, cause an economic crisis to weaken "the great satan" and to KILL as many "infidels" as he could.

Answer 10

Depends who you listen to.
Bin Laden said they did it because American troops were on Muslim holy lands. By being there, they supported regimes like Saudi Arabia who he believes are oppressive to muslims(because they are), and he belives that Americans are forcing globalization on the middle east, bringing Jackass, WalMart and Britney Spears to the muslim world, turning people away from god and towards a consumption society. All of that is true, but bin Laden is also a religious loonatic.
They don't do compromise or rational thinking.
Because they are "evil-doers"

Answer 11

Osama Bin Laden was infuriated that infidels had desecrated the holy lands of his faith by their presence during the first gulf confrontation.
This is another "religious war" fueled by hallucinations and created by another sky fairy fantasy. Hopefully in the future all of this superstitious nonsense will be replaced through reason and logic negating any such primitive activity.