Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the words "Muslim" and "Islam" have become synonymous with the feared word "terrorism." As Americans learned that the enemy was factions of Muslim extremists operating in the Middle East and that they were driven to attack by a deep loathing for America and other countries of the Western world, we quickly began to associate the entire Islam religion with these groups of seemingly irrational people. Due to our resentment and hostility toward the enemy as a result of September 11, we failed to realize that the Islam religion is separated between the extremists and the rest of the Muslims, who are temperate moderates who do not support them and even welcome Western influence. It is crucial for Americans as well as all Westerners to both recognize and understand who the true enemy is, and that it is not everyone of Islam. The enemy is these radical groups of Muslim extremists who are absolutely separated from the rest of the Muslim world, and have in fact terrorized Muslims in the Middle East long before America was victimized on September 11.
[...] He and members of al Qaeda were adamant to return the Muslim states to their true and traditional Islamic roots. Bin Laden, a multimillionaire from Saudi Arabia, financed the organization by setting up training camps and supplying weapons to Arab fighters. By 1992, bin Laden encouraged the Muslims to start focusing on attacking the U.S. They had been concentrating mainly on Israel, and bin Laden felt that they had not accomplished enough. They needed to go after the “head of snake” (Hoge Jr. [...]
[...] According to a senior al Qaeda member, various ideas were developed in these camps in Afghanistan, including: taking over a launcher and forcing Russian scientists to fire a nuclear missile at the U.S.; dispensing cyanide or other poison gases into the air conditioning units of targeted buildings, and finally, hijacking an aircraft and crashing it into a landmark U.S. city or airport terminal (Hoge Jr. and Rose, 42). Eventually, bin Laden became an admired figure within this terrorist network, as he would visit the camps to lecture and instill encouragement within the al Qaeda soldiers, who wanted to prove themselves worthy and courageous to their legendary leader. [...]
[...] Pockets of Taliban, and the terrorist network Al-Qaeda that it harbored and supported for so many years still remain however, and the country is working on restoring itself by drafting a constitution in late 2004 which is comprised mainly of laws deriving from the Qu'ran, the Islam holy book, and electing a president. However, the interpretations of the Qu'ran that make up the constitution are sensible, unlike the Taliban's. They reflect the rationality that the Taliban is deeply bereft of. [...]
[...] and British forces, along with the compliance of the Pakistani president, attacked the Taliban regime and dismantled the al Qaeda infrastructure in Afghanistan, setting the stage in the War on Terror that continues to this day. American forces have been cyclically deployed to Afghanistan in pursuit of completely eliminating the Taliban and al Qaeda, of which leaders and member extremists still exist and aim to carry out their missions. Al Qaeda has managed to survive financially through embezzlement of money from innocent Islamic charities and through collections from crooked charities. [...]
[...] and forcing them to withdraw troops from the Arabian Peninsula The militancy poured into other Muslim states of the world, with the headquarters stemming from Afghanistan with support of the Taliban and also Pakistan. Pakistan switched roles after September 11 and became an American ally, but prior to, Pakistan's support reaped in benefits as Pakistanis trained at al Qaeda camps for their own continuous struggle with India over the Kashmir. In August 1998, truck bombs ripped apart U.S. embassies in various East African capitals. [...]
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