Cause and Effect 2

Why All the Conflict in the Middle East, and Could the Events of 9-11 Been Avoided?

            It can be noted that the current bouts of international terrorism, especially those targeted at the United States has a great deal of history behind them.  We will briefly explore the events leading up to the destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, and the ongoing conflicts in South West Asia.   Some information will be laid out pertaining to Usama Bin Laden, but he is not the focus here.

            To really get a grasp on why there are a good deal of terrorist acts being committed by Muslim fundamentalists, one must go back not too far to the founding of the modern State of Israel.  Under a British controlled League of Nations, the League withdrew from its mandate with Palestine and created the State of Israel on 14 May 1948.  The League of Nations did this despite protests from the rest of the Arab community.[1]

            The U.S. made a move away from domestic oil to that from nations in Southwest Asia (SWA) in the 1970’s.  This act did allow the U.S. to gain some economic allies in the region, yet also ensured a dependence upon those very same countries.  In a way this created a paradox in the U.S.’s foreign policy.  Israel and the rest of the nations of SWA have never been friends.  Thus, the U.S. was constantly in the middle of disputes in the region due to our vow to protect the sovereignty of Israel and to maintain ties with our oil suppliers. 

            The United States attempted a maneuver to combat communist aggression in the region when the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics invaded Afghanistan on 26 December 1979.  Since the Cold War was at its peak at that time, the U.S. decided to aid Afghan rebels, among those trained by the Central Intelligence Agency was Usama Bin Laden [2].  The U.S. at the time saw no harm in training this man.  He disappeared shortly after the Soviets were defeated and continued to live in Afghanistan, only to become a very large thorn in the side of the United States.

            Since the attack on Khobar Towers in June 1996, the Department of Defense (DoD) has made significant improvements in protecting its service members, mainly in deterring, disrupting and mitigating terrorist attacks on installations.[3]

            Apparently the DoD could not see a terrorist attack being made against a ship.  If they had, it is highly doubtful that the U.S.S. Cole would have bombed while in port in Yemen.  This attack was supposedly sponsored by Al Qaida forces.  It is possible that we may never know who was really responsible for the supposedly unprovoked attack. 

            Yes, supposedly is the proper term.  To Muslim fundamentalists, Western Civilization is a slap in the face and they see the hand of Western Civilization as the United States.  There are countless things about our society that goes against the core values of Islam.  It comes from a flaunting of the female form, imbibing alcoholic beverages, sponsoring the United Nations, which continues to maintain the sovereignty of Israel, etc, etc.  There is no wonder why those who hold their faith so closely with their way of life would see our very existence as an attack.  By no means does this mean that condoning the actions is the right thing to do. 

            You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality.  Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or says it[4]

            As to whether or not we could have foreseen these events and the ones occurring on 11 September 2001, is difficult to say, at best.  The U.S. government in the aftermath of the Cold War was focusing mainly on attacks by rogue factions using weapons of mass destruction.  Yet, the powers that be should have paid more attention to the experts:

Although the FBI and the intelligence community see growing interest in WMD by groups and individuals of concern, the intelligence community concluded that explosives or other conventional weapons will continue to be the most likely form of terrorist attack over the next decade.[5]

There was no realistic way for the U.S. government to take appropriate enough measures to ensure that hijackers could not crash two commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon.  We must accept has happened, learn from the experience, and move on.  If we do not, then those who prey upon the weak will have succeeded in their goals.

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