9/11, 17 Years Later

On September 11, 2001, 19 Al-Qaida terrorists from various countries in the Middle East and Asia hijacked four airplanes and crashed them.  Two airplanes hit the “Twin Towers” in New York City, one hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and one did not reach its target of the White House because the passengers stopped the terrorist pilots.  This plane crash-landed in a field in Pennsylvania.  Because of the 9/11 attacks, approximately 3,000 civilians were murdered and America fully entered into the War on Terror.

The terrorists who committed these attacks were part of an international organization called Al-Qaida, a radical Islamic organization. Al-Qaida does not control a country, but its members live in many parts of the world, including the United States of America. These terrorists hate America because the United States supports Israel’s right to exist, and because America represents freedom. Israel is a Jewish country, and the Al-Qaida organization hates Jews. Osama bin Laden was the head of Al-Qaida. He demanded that the U.S.A. stop supporting Israel, and that we remove all of our soldiers from the Arabian Peninsula. 

In 2001, Al-Qaida had most of its bases in Afghanistan, a country of Asia. Afghanistan was ruled by a political party called the Taliban.  Like Al-Qaida, the Taliban was very extreme in its Islamic beliefs.  The Taliban did not allow girls to study or women to have a job.  Women had to wear a black robe called a burqa that covered their entire body. When a girl under Taliban control becomes a woman, the Taliban mutilates her body to permanently mark her as less than a man. If you had a book or a newspaper that the Taliban didn’t like, the Taliban soldiers might torture or kill you. If it was thought you were an Afghani Christian, the Taliban would execute you. If you belonged to a minority group, you could be tortured. Punishment for homosexuality or for infidelity for a married woman was execution. The Taliban and Al-Qaida worked, and work, together.

After the attacks on 9/11, President Bush demanded from Afghanistan/The Taliban that it hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States of America. The Taliban refused, and the U.S. launched a war. The Taliban lost the war and the U.S. helped the Afghans establish a republic. The Taliban is still fighting, though. The U.S. has soldiers in Afghanistan and is fighting the Taliban with the Afghan people.

In 2001, Saddam Hussein was the dictator of Iraq, and the world believed that he was supporting terrorists and that he had dangerous weapons. It was feared he would give terrorists a nuclear bomb or poison gas or some other weapons that the terrorists would then use against Americans. Saddam Hussein threatened the U.S., attempted to kill President Bush in a visit to Kuwait, and had defied 16 United Nations resolutions to come clean on his making dangerous weapons.  The United States Senate gave President Bush authority to use force to remove Hussein, and he used it. The U.S. launched a war against Hussein, removed him, and established a republic. The Iraqi people tried and executed Hussein as a mass murderer.  Terrorist groups unhappy with Iraqi democracy are now fighting Iraqis, and Iraqis fight the terrorists.

President Obama became the leader of the U.S. in 2009 and continued the fight against terrorists in a different way than President Bush. He stated that he wanted the U.S.A. to lead from behind, and to disengage in the war in Afghanistan and in Iraq. However, he continued ordering the killing of terrorists. In 2011, he gave the order for Navy Seals to kill the leader of Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden.

​President Obama ordered American soldiers out of Iraq. After the American retreat from Iraq, another terrorist organization, called Daesha (or also ISIS) conquered much of Iraq and Syria. Over 1 million refugees have fled ISIS and immigrated, mainly to Europe. Some of these refugees are terrorists and have killed Europeans. Once it became clear that ISIS was a threat to Iraq and American interests, President Obama sent American soldiers back into Iraq.

​President Trump has continued the fight against terrorists in Iraq, and also has continued the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan.  Different from President Obama, Trump has allowed the American military to fully engage the terrorists and be more aggressive. In early 2018, the United States and its allies defeated ISIS in Iraq and Syria. As of today, ISIS holds no territory, cannot collect any taxes, and does not control any oil fields. This has been a major success of the Trump foreign policy. 

American soldiers risk their lives each day fighting radical Islamic terrorists who made a promise to kill Americans. We remember September 11, 2001, as a day of mourning for those innocent civilians killed on American soil and as a day that changed how Americans fight terrorists around the globe. 

From the Classical Historian writers and family, we salute members of the United States armed forces, we give thanks for your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your families, and we pray and hope for complete victory over enemies of freedom in the War on Terror, the radical Islamic terrorists. 

Questions:
1. Who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.A?
2. Who are the Taliban?
3. How did the U.S. respond to these attacks in Afghanistan?
4. Why did the U.S. attack Iraq?
5. What happened after President Obama took U.S. soldiers out of Iraq? 
6. What is the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan? 
7. Who are the terrorists trying to take over Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan? What do they believe in? 
8. What has happened to ISIS since President Trump began his presidency? 

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