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Do not fill this in! === Motives === {{Main|Motives for the September 11 attacks}} {{Further|Fatwa of Osama bin Laden}} Osama bin Laden's declaration of a [[Religious war|holy war]] against the United States, and a [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|1998 ''fatwā'' signed by bin Laden]] and others that called for the killing of Americans,<ref name="PBS 2013-11-28" /><ref name="1996 text">{{cite web |title=[Text of] Bin Laden's [1996] Fatwa |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-july-dec96-fatwa_1996/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419014901/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-july-dec96-fatwa_1996/ |archive-date=19 April 2014 |access-date=14 June 2014 |publisher=[[PBS NewsHour]] |ref=August 23, 1996}}</ref> are seen by investigators as evidence of his motivation.<ref>Gunarathna, pp. 61–62.</ref> During his interview with [[Hamid Mir]] in November 2001, Bin Laden defended the September 11 attacks as retaliatory strikes against American atrocities against Muslims across the world. He also maintained that the attacks were not directed against women and children, asserting that the targets of the strikes were symbols of America's "economic and military power".<ref>{{cite book |last=Bin Laden |first=Osama |title=Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-045-7 |editor=Lawrence |editor-first=Bruce |location=6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG |pages=139, 140, 141 |chapter=Declaration of Jihad |quote=The targets of September 11 were not women and children. The main targets were the symbol of the United States: their economic and military power.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=10 November 2001 |title='Muslims have the right to attack America' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/11/terrorism.afghanistan1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825215127/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/11/terrorism.afghanistan1 |archive-date=25 August 2013}}</ref> In bin Laden's November 2002 "''[[Letter to the American people]]''", he explicitly stated that al-Qaeda's motives for the attacks included: * [[Israel–United States military relations|U.S. support of Israel]]<ref name="bin Laden" /><ref name="Israel sources"> *Mearsheimer (2007), p. 67. *Kushner (2003), p. 389. *Murdico (2003), p. 64. *Kelley (2006), p. 207. *Ibrahim (2007), p. 276. *{{harvp|Berner|2007|p=80}}</ref> * Bin Laden's strategy to support and globally expand the [[Al-Aqsa Intifada]]<ref>{{cite web |date=24 November 2002 |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008120001/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |archive-date=2014-10-08 |access-date=2019-01-07 |work=The Guardian |quote=The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone... American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their government and even to change them if they want. (b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes that fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies that occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets that ensure the blockade of Iraq.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Riedel |first=Bruce |title=The Search for Al Qaeda |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8157-0451-5 |location=Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC, US |pages=5, 6 |chapter=1: The Manhattan Raid |quote=The Palestinian intifada, the fierce uprising in the fall of 2000 on the West Bank and Gaza, was a particularly powerful motivating event for.. bin Laden... The intifada's power over bin Laden's thinking about the 9/11 raid is underscored by his repeated attempts to push KSM to advance the timing of the crashes. In September of 2000, he urged KSM to tell Atta to attack immediately to respond to the Sharon visit to the holy sites in Jerusalem; Atta told bin Laden he was not ready yet. When bin Laden learned that Sharon, who had become Israel's prime minister in March 2001, was going to visit the White House early that summer, he again pressed Atta to attack immediately. And again Atta demurred, arguing he needed more time to get the plan and the team ready to go.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Holbrook |first=Donald |title=The Al-Qaeda Doctrine |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-62356-314-1 |location=New York, NY, US |pages=145}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=J. Greenberg |first1=Karen |title=Al Qaeda Now |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-85911-0 |location=New York, US |pages=192–206 |chapter=October 21, 2001 – Interview with Tayseer Alouni |quote=Last year's blessed intifada helped us to push more for the Palestinian issue. This push helps the other cause. Attacking America helps the cause of Palestine and vice versa. No conflict between the two; on the contrary, one serves the other.}}</ref> * Attacks against Muslims by [[Unified Task Force|U.S.-led coalition]] in [[Somalia]] * U.S. support of the government of [[Philippines]] against Muslims in the [[Moro conflict]] * U.S. support for the [[Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon]] * U.S. support of [[Russians|Russian]] atrocities against Muslims in [[Chechnya]] * Pro-American governments in the [[Middle East]] (who "act as your agents") being against Muslim interests * U.S. support of Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir * The [[Operation Southern Watch|presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia]]<ref>*Plotz, David (2001) [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2001/09/what_does_osama_bin_laden_want.html What Does Osama Bin Laden Want?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115012459/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2001/09/what_does_osama_bin_laden_want.html |date=November 15, 2016 }}, ''Slate'' *{{harvp|Bergen|2001|p=3}} *{{cite news |last=Yusufzai |first=Rahimullah |title=Face to face with Osama |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,558075,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119011449/http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0%2C3604%2C558075%2C00.html |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=September 26, 2001 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=January 19, 2008 }} *{{cite news |title=US pulls out of Saudi Arabia |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=April 29, 2003 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225172742/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm |url-status=live }} *{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1025558570331929960 |title=Saga of Dr. Zawahri Sheds Light on the Roots of al Qaeda Terror |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=July 2, 2002 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230220026/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1025558570331929960 |url-status=live }} *{{cite web |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing10/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-04-13.htm |title=Tenth Public Hearing, Testimony of Louis Freeh |publisher=9/11 Commission |date=April 13, 2004 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225172014/https://9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing10/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-04-13.htm%20 |url-status=live }} *{{cite web |title=Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: World Islamic Front Statement |date=February 23, 1998 |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]] |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421110549/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> * The [[sanctions against Iraq]]<ref name="bin Laden">*{{cite news |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech |publisher=Al Jazeera |access-date=April 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101093303/http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |archive-date=January 1, 2016 }} *{{cite news |first=Osama |last=bin Laden |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |date=November 24, 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |work=[[The Observer]] |access-date=September 3, 2011 |location=London |archive-date=July 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728133223/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |url-status=live }}</ref> *[[Environmental destruction]]<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |date=2002-11-24 |access-date=2010-04-26| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418164357/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver| archive-date=18 April 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/04/23/osama-bin-laden-s-aide-ayman-al-zawahiri-rants-on-global-warming-89520-20391770/|title=Osama bin Laden's aide Ayman al-Zawahiri rants on global warming – Mirror.co.uk<!-- Bot generated title -->|website=[[Daily Mirror]]|access-date=May 14, 2023|archive-date=May 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511161707/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/04/23/osama-bin-laden-s-aide-ayman-al-zawahiri-rants-on-global-warming-89520-20391770/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/01/29/2010-01-29_al_qaeda_leader_osama_bin_laden_blasts_us_in_tape_for_global_warming.html |work=New York Daily News |title=Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden blasts U.S. in audiotape spewing hate for... global warming |first=Brian |last=Kates |date=2010-01-30 |access-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-date=February 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100201222703/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/01/29/2010-01-29_al_qaeda_leader_osama_bin_laden_blasts_us_in_tape_for_global_warming.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After the attacks, bin Laden and [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] released additional [[Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden|videotapes]] and audio recordings, some of which repeated the above reasons for the attacks. Two relevant publications were bin Laden's 2002 "''Letter to the American people''"<ref name="BLLTA">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |title=Full transcript of bin Laden's 'Letter to America' |work=The Guardian |date=November 24, 2002|access-date=September 3, 2011 |location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426123409/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |archive-date=April 26, 2019 }}</ref> and a 2004 videotape by bin Laden.<ref name="Full Ladin">{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech |access-date=April 10, 2012 |last=bin Laden |first=Osama |publisher=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] |quote=So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101093303/http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |archive-date=January 1, 2016 }}</ref> {{quote box|[...] those young men, for whom [[God]] has cleared the way, didn't set out to kill children, but rather attacked the biggest centre of military power in the world, [[the Pentagon]], which contains more than 64,000 workers, a military base which has a big concentration of army and intelligence ... As for the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]], the ones who were attacked and who died in it were part of a financial power. It wasn't a children's school! Neither was it a residence. The consensus is that most of the people who were in the towers were men who backed the biggest financial force in the world, which spreads mischief throughout the world. | source = — Osama Bin Laden's interview with [[Tayseer Allouni]], 21 October 2001<ref>{{cite book |title=Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-045-7 |editor=Bruce Lawrence |location=6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG |page=119}}</ref> | align = right | width = 25em }} As an adherent of [[Islam]], bin Laden believed that [[kuffar|non-Muslims]] are forbidden from having a permanent presence in the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bergen |first=Peter L. |author-link=Peter L. Bergen |title=Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden |year=2005 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7432-3467-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRhZDrJb0zgC&pg=PP1|access-date=March 20, 2020}}</ref> In 1996, [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|bin Laden issued]] a ''fatwā'' calling for American troops to leave Saudi Arabia. In 1998, Al-Qaeda wrote "For over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the [[Arabian Peninsula]], plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbours, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighbouring Muslim peoples".<ref name="1998 Al Qaeda fatwā">{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |title=1998 Al Qaeda fatwā |publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]] (FAS) |date=February 23, 1998 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421110549/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In a December 1999 interview, bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to [[Mecca]]", and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world.<ref name="guardian-20010926">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/26/afghanistan.terrorism3 |title=Face to face with Osama |work=The Guardian |date=September 26, 2001 |location=London |access-date=September 3, 2011 |first=Rahimullah |last=Yusufzai |archive-date=January 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119011449/http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,558075,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> One analysis of suicide terrorism suggested that without U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda likely would not have been able to get people to commit to suicide missions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pape |first=Robert A. |author-link=Robert Pape |title=Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism |year=2005 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8129-7338-9|url=https://archive.org/details/dyingtowinstrate00pape|access-date=March 20, 2020}}</ref> In the 1998 ''fatwā'', Al-Qaeda identified the Iraq sanctions as a reason to kill Americans, condemning the "protracted blockade" among other actions that constitute a declaration of war against "Allah, his messenger, and Muslims".<ref name="1998 Al Qaeda fatwā" /> The ''fatwā'' declared that "the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies{{snd}}civilians and military{{snd}}is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the [[Al-Aqsa mosque|al-Aqsa Mosque]] and the holy mosque of Mecca from their grip, and in order for their [the Americans'] armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim".<ref name="PBS 2013-11-28" /><ref>See also the 1998 [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|Al-Qaeda ''fatwā'']]: "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies{{snd}}civilians and military{{snd}}is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim." Quoted from {{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-jan-june98-fatwa_1998/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131128194258/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military/jan-june98/fatwa_1998.html|archive-date=November 28, 2013 |title=Al Qaeda's Second Fatwa |website=[[PBS NewsHour]] |publisher=[[PBS]] |url-status=dead |access-date=May 29, 2014}}</ref> In 2004, bin Laden claimed that the idea of destroying the towers had first occurred to him in 1982 when he witnessed Israel's bombardment of high-rise apartment buildings during the [[1982 Lebanon War]].<ref>Summers and Swan (2011), pp. 211, 506n.</ref><ref>Lawrence (2005), p. 239.</ref> Some analysts, including political scientists [[John Mearsheimer]] and [[Stephen Walt]], also claimed that U.S. support of Israel was a motive for the attacks.<ref name="Israel sources" /><ref name="guardian-20010926" /> In 2004 and 2010, bin Laden again connected the September 11 attacks with U.S. support of Israel, although most of the letters expressed bin Laden's disdain for President Bush and bin Laden's hope to "destroy and bankrupt" the U.S.<ref>{{cite news|title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html%20online%20here|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=August 24, 2016|date=November 4, 2004|archive-date=November 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114080708/http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html%20online%20here|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>In his taped broadcast from January 2010, bin Laden said "Our attacks against you [the United States] will continue as long as U.S. support for Israel continues.{{spaces}}... The message sent to you with the attempt by the hero Nigerian [[Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab]] is a confirmation of our previous message conveyed by the heroes of September{{spaces}}11". Quoted from [http://www.haaretz.com/news/bin-laden-attacks-on-u-s-to-go-on-as-long-as-it-supports-israel-1.265770 "Bin Laden: Attacks on U.S. to go on as long as it supports Israel"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216081625/http://www.haaretz.com/news/bin-laden-attacks-on-u-s-to-go-on-as-long-as-it-supports-israel-1.265770 |date=December 16, 2016 }}, in Haaretz.com</ref> Other motives have been suggested in addition to those stated by bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. Some authors suggested the "humiliation" that resulted from the Islamic world falling behind the Western world{{snd}}this discrepancy was rendered especially visible by globalization<ref>Bernard Lewis, 2004. In [[Bernard Lewis]]'s 2004 book ''[[The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror]]'', he argues that animosity toward the West is best understood with the decline of the once powerful [[Ottoman empire]], compounded by the import of western ideas{{snd}}[[Arab socialism]], [[Liberal movements within Islam|Arab liberalism]] and [[Secularism in the Middle East|Arab secularism]]</ref><ref>In "The spirit of terrorism", [[Jean Baudrillard]] described 9/11 as the first global event that "questions the very process of globalization". {{cite web |url=http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/baudriterror.htm |title=The spirit of terrorism |last=Baudrillard |access-date=June 26, 2011 |archive-date=May 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528231925/http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/baudriterror.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and a desire to provoke the U.S. into a broader war against the Islamic world in the hope of motivating more allies to support Al-Qaeda. Similarly, others have argued the 9/11 attacks were a strategic move to provoke America into a war that would incite a [[pan-Islamism|pan-Islamic]] revolution.<ref>In an essay entitled "Somebody Else's Civil War", [[Michael Scott Doran]] argues the attacks are best understood as part of a religious conflict within the Muslim world and that bin Laden's followers "consider themselves an island of true believers surrounded by a sea of iniquity". Hoping that U.S. retaliation would unite the faithful against the West, bin Laden sought to spark revolutions in Arab nations and elsewhere. Doran argues the [[Osama bin Laden videos]] attempt to provoke a visceral reaction in the Middle East and ensure that Muslim citizens would react as violently as possible to an increase in U.S. involvement in their region. ({{cite magazine|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2002-01-01/somebody-elses-civil-war|title=Somebody Else's Civil War|first=Michael Scott|last=Doran|issue=January/February 2002|magazine=[[Foreign Affairs]]|access-date=December 5, 2009|url-access=subscription|archive-date=April 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423172939/http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/57618/michael-scott-doran/somebody-elses-civil-war|url-status=live}} Reprinted in {{cite book|last1=Hoge|first1=James F.|last2=Rose|first2=Gideon|title=Understanding the War on Terror |publisher=Norton |year=2005 |location=New York|isbn=978-0-87609-347-4|pages=72–75}})</ref><ref>In ''The Osama bin Laden I Know'', [[Peter Bergen]] argues the attacks were part of a plan to cause the United States to ''increase'' its military and cultural presence in the Middle East, thereby forcing Muslims to confront the idea of a non-Muslim government and to eventually establish conservative Islamic governments in the region.({{harvp|Bergen|2006|p=229}})</ref> Documents seized during the [[Killing of Osama bin Laden|2011 operation that killed bin Laden]] included a few notes handwritten by bin Laden in September 2002 with the heading "The Birth of the Idea of September 11". In these notes, he describes how he was inspired by the crash of [[EgyptAir Flight 990]] on October 31, 1999, which was deliberately crashed by co-pilot [[Gameel Al-Batouti]]. "This is how the idea of 9/11 was conceived and developed in my head, and that is when we began the planning" bin Laden continued, adding that no one but [[Mohammed Atef|Abu Hafs]] and Abu al-Khair knew about it at the time. The ''[[9/11 Commission Report]]'' identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the architect of 9/11, but he is not mentioned in bin Laden's notes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lahoud |first=Nelly |date=2022 |title=The Bin Laden Papers: How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth about al-Qaeda, Its Leader and His Family |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoppEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |location=New Haven (CT) |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26063-2 |pages=16–19, 307 }}<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/8F/8F496071D25B831EFBFD5299FBC0DF62_msoB4938.jpg |title=The Birth of the Idea of September 11 |date=September 2002 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=ar |access-date=April 15, 2022 |archive-date=April 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415162318/https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/8F/8F496071D25B831EFBFD5299FBC0DF62_msoB4938.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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