For large segments of younger generations, what happened on September 11, 2001, is comparable to what World War II meant to our generation. A quarter of a century has passed since the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York and the attack on the Pentagon, a symbol of American military power.
اضافة اعلان
A small group of terrorists, sent by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, carried out the largest attack against the United States since the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. More than 3,000 people were killed.
Many people did not experience the horror of that event, either because they were too young or because they had not yet been born. But what everyone knows today is that much of the devastation, wars, and turmoil that have afflicted our region during the first quarter of the new century began with that day. Perhaps everything the United States experienced in terms of political and ideological shifts, and the changes that followed across the Western world, was also shaped by that tragic event.
At the time, the United States was basking in the victory over the collapsing Soviet Union and reveling in its power and dominance on the global stage. Bin Laden likely did not realize the historical significance of the moment when he carried out the attack. Nor did he probably anticipate the response that a superpower would unleash following an insult of such catastrophic magnitude.
I believe that the world watching those terrifying moments did not realize the extent to which the American response would go, or how the attacks would be politically and militarily exploited.
In less than two years, the United States had invaded and devastated two countries: Afghanistan, which had sheltered bin Laden and his terrorist organization, and Iraq, where plans to invade and overthrow the regime had already been drawn up before September 11 and were waiting in the corridors of power. The neoconservatives found in the attacks an opportunity to put those plans into action.
America changed dramatically, and so did its relations with countries around the world. “If you are not with us, you are against us” became the defining slogan of American policy from that point onward.
The United States had never been as divided as it became after September 11. A remarkable and rapid rise of the far right and populism followed, with its echoes reaching some of the world’s oldest and most established moderate democracies. Many of the right-wing movements we see in America today, hostile toward immigrants, Arabs, and Muslims, gained momentum in the aftermath of that date and eventually reached positions of power and decision-making.
Hate speech, intolerance, and rejection of the world of others grew in the aftermath of the Twin Towers attacks. A question began to echo through American research institutions and decision-making circles: “Why do they hate us?”
A cycle of terrorism began and spread across the world. The overwhelming military and retaliatory response by the United States unleashed waves of terrorism and extremism that struck everywhere. The Middle East paid the highest price, and continues to do so.
The invasion of Iraq gave rise to armies of terrorists and killers and elevated religious extremism to a prominent position in Arab and Muslim societies.
European countries paid a price as well. Dozens of terrorist attacks struck their capitals and cities, while the far right gained significant ground. Arabs and Muslims increasingly found themselves marginalized, even in some of the Western countries with the closest ties to our region.
Across our world, security came to take precedence over politics and individual freedoms. The obsession with stability and the fear of terrorist attacks came to dominate government policies and people's lives. That day saw people lose a wide margin of their basic freedoms, while lists of those barred from entering the United States, for the first time, began to include entire peoples and countries.
The world became a bleak and hostile place, with hatred dominating societies and fear dominating governments.
One question continues to linger at this time: **If the September 11 attacks had never happened, would the fate of the region have been different? And would we have reached the moment of October 7?**
