User talk:69.114.77.59

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hmmmm, I was a bit harsh there.

[edit] September 11, 2001 attacks

If you could, please add footnotes as external wikilinks right after the additions within the body of the article. Thanks.--MONGO 05:54, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

  • What I think he's trying to point out is that there does exist a class of Wikipedia users who aren't even aware that there exists the history (with it's edit summaries). You could have put the links right in the text as an in-line citation like this[1]. ^_^
    Regardless of where you put them, consider this a pat on the back for providing sources at all. If only we could get everyone to do so...
    brenneman(t)(c) 06:08, 13 October 2005 (UTC)


Clearly some peole don't want others to know the motives for the September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11th attacks may have been consistent with the campaign against Al-Qaeda by the United States. Bin Laden issued a 1996 Fatwa titled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places." It said "the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators. ... their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq." And it said their wealth was looted and "in the hands of the enemies." Over a year after the secret 1996/1997 US declaration of war on al-Qaeda, a February 1998 fatwa [2] was issued by Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, and Fazlur Rahman. Although the group's involvement in the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania has been widely suspected, Al-Qaeda had declared responsibility for the 2000 USS Cole in Yemen.

The 1998 Fatwa lists three motivations for the holy war:

  1. U.S. occupation of the Arabian Peninsula.
  2. U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people.
  3. U.S. support of Israel.

The 1998 Fatwa states that the United States:

  • Plunders the resources of the Arabian Peninsula.
  • Dictates policy to the rulers of those countries.
  • Supports abusive regimes and monarchies in the Middle East, thereby oppressing their people.
  • Has military bases and installations upon the Arabian Peninsula, which violates the Muslim holy land, in order to threaten neighbouring Muslim countries.
  • Intends thereby to create disunion between Muslim states, thus weakening them as a political force.
  • Supports Israel, and wishes to divert international attention from (and tacitly maintain) the occupation of Palestine.

The 1998 Fatwa states, "All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims. And ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries."

The Gulf War and the ensuing sanctions against and bombing of Iraq by the United States, were cited, in 1998, as further proof of these allegations. To the disapproval of moderate Muslims, the fatwa uses Islamic texts to justify violent action against American military and citizenry until the alleged grievances are reversed. The 9/11 attacks was held as one such action.

The 9/11 Commission Report determined that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks" and that "by his own account, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel."

The ring leader of the September 11th suicide hijackers also held the same grievance. Mohamed Atta coordinated the other 9/11 terrorists and he was the first pilot who flew into the WTC. Ralph Bodenstein, who traveled, worked and talked a lot with Mohamed Atta, is quoted as describing Mohamed Atta as "most imbued actually about Israeli politics in the region and about US protection of these Israeli politics in the region. And he was to a degree personally suffering from that." The pilot who flew into the south tower was asked by a friend in Hamburg why he and Atta never laughed, Marwan al-Shehhi retorted, "How can you laugh when people are dying in Palestine?"

Statements of Al-Qaeda recorded after 9/11 confirm this motivation. In an October 2001 video, bin Laden said, "We swore that America wouldn't live in security until we live it truly in Palestine . This showed the reality of America, which puts Israel's interest above its own people's interest. America won't get out of this crisis until it gets out of the Arabian Peninsula , and until it stops its support of Israel." In a 2004 video, Bin Laden acknowledged responsibility for the attacks and said the idea of attacking the towers came "after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon." Bin Laden claims that the motivation included the wish to "restore freedom to our nation"; to "punish the aggressor in kind", and create economic damage to America - declaring a continuing aim of his holy war was "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy". Bin Laden has said, "security is an indispensable pillar of human life and that free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom." and "even though we are in the fourth year after the events of September 11th, Bush is still engaged in distortion, deception and hiding from you the real causes." [3]

The Bush administration, claims that Al-Qaeda was motivated rather by hatred of the freedom and democracy exemplified by the United States. In 2003, bin Laden responded to the Bush Administration's claim saying that the White House is "hiding the Truth" and "denying reality" by "proclaiming that we (the Mujahideen) were striking them because we were jealous of them (the Americans), whereas the reality is that we are striking them because of their evil and injustice in the whole of the Islamic World, especially in Iraq and Palestine and their occupation of the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries." Both the United States and Al-Qaeda present the conflict as a battle between Goodness and Evil. Others have ignored Al-Qaeda's comments in order to contend that Al-Qaeda's motivation is to impose a tyrannical World Order based on the organization's interpretation of Islam and not Al-Qaeda's stated goals of overthrowing the oppressive regimes in teh Middle East in order to create a pan-Arab caliphate.

[edit] Vietnam

No, I am not making this up. What Eisenhower said was that elections at the time of the fighting (1954) would have given victory to Ho in a Ho vs. Bao Dai election. The schelduled elections in 1956 was completely different from what Eisenhower referenced as it would have been Ho vs. Diem. In any case it is a valid claim and should not be removed. CJK 00:50, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dude

Dude, the point I was trying to make was that Eisenhower was saying that if elections were held in 1954 Ho would defeat Bao Dai. He does not say that Ho would defeat Diem in 1956. Read the entire quote if you don't believe me. If you want to say that the U.S. thought Ho would have won the 1956 elections, you are going to have to sight a government source saying so, not a biased PBS article. The Pentagon Papers say that Ho would not win by 80% of the vote vs. Diem and that the U.S. went along with Diem's decision to maintain its ally. The government later said that the complete absence of political freedom in North Vietnam made free elections impossible. I can dig up sources if neccessary. So no, I am not the one making things up. CJK 15:35, 13 November 2005 (UTC)