Pam’s notes Searching for Roots 9/11
Notes on Searching for the Roots of 9/11, Thomas Friedman reporting.
Who is Thomas Friedman?
Reporter and columnist for the New York Times.
Many years experience covering foreign affairs.
Extensive travel to Middle East.
Well respected, moderate views.
An American, a Jew.
Friedman asks 2 questions:
- What motivated those 19 hijackers to board those planes and willfully complete this act of terror?
- Why did others around the Arab and Muslim world applaud?
Friedman says in order to “repair the hole left by 9/11,” we need to understand the roots. Until we learn why this happened we will not be safe.
America seen as too powerful. Some quotes from Middle Eastern students interviewed:
- “Good to see America get punched in the nose.”
- “America has been kicking butts for 50 years.”
- “America supports bullies in the Middle East region.”
- “America kills civilians, too. Calls it ‘collateral damage,” regrettable, but acceptable.”
What is it that is triggering such hatred and anger against America?
Friedman discusses “3 Rivers of Anger”:
- US support for Israel
- US support for corrupt regimes in the larger Middle East region
- A sense of humiliation in Muslim and Arab societies
Friedman travels to Qatar, a Middle Eastern country with many Western ways and talks to students. Some opinions voiced by the students:
Anger about all the attention on 9/11, when the US has been dismissing Arab blood for years
A sense that finally 9/11 saw tragedy in the US. Tragedies happen all over the world all the time, but the US does not care, sometimes the US is even responsible.
One comment that 9/11 had to happen to make a point that the US needs to stop bossing around the world.
A teacher said, “We look up to the US, and we feel that you (the US) look down on us.”
Travel to Cairo, Egypt, to the childhood home of Muhammad Atta. How did Atta go from middle class, an engineering student, to a terrorist. Friedman says that it’s important to see what has been happening in Europe and in the Arab world.
In Arab and Muslim world, Friedman reports a “poverty of dignity.” Arab civilization, once the most educated and advanced, has been humiliated and has fallen far behind the West.
Friedman interviews Egyptian poet and intellect who compares terrorists to “dwarfs.” Says they are “pathologically jealous” about the tallness of others (speaking metaphorically, of course) and need to bring down the towers to make themselves appear taller.
There are rough economic and political times in the Arab world. The Arab world compares poorly to the US and the West in wealth and power. Friedman writes, “Humiliation is an underestimated force in international relations.” The terrorists came from a place where they felt “pathologically jealous” and insulted by America’s might.
Atta’s dreams of working as an engineer did not pan out. Economic forces caused Atta to leave Egypt and go to Hamburg, Germany where there were more opportunities to study and inevitably prosper. However, in Europe, he felt out of place and discriminated against as an Arab. Lots of anti-immigrant sentiment and damage to the dignity of the Arab Muslims.
He became more angry and militant and found community in a mosque. The mosque used Islam as a point of pride and power. In becoming a radical Muslim, he could take back power and direction in his life. He was given something to believe in. He could use religion to feel superior to those who caused him humiliation.
Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite TV station based in Qatar, reports that people in the Arab world are angry at US support for Israel and see the US applying a double standard for violence against Israelis and violence against Palestinians. See the US as incredibly hypocritical.
The answer to the question, “Why do Arabs hate Americans?” was turned around: “Why are Americans always suspicious of Arabs?” If a person is Muslim from the Middle East, he is considered a terrorist.
Al Jazeera is reporting a war between civilizations. US is seen as a renegade nation—consumed with power. Bush as Hitler.
Friedman raises question about what Arab countries have done to themselves. Most of them are police states that grant few freedoms and little personal power to the people.
Friedman compares terrorists to cult members and leaders such as Osama bin Laden as cult leader, attracting followers to a Utopian vision of an Islamic state.
He describes al-Qaeda as a group that formed “where rage meets ideology.” They believe in Islamism or politicized Islam. The personal part of religion is removed. The quest is not to perfect one’s personal relationship with God, but to perfect the world and create the perfect Islamic society.
Friedman writes about a struggle for the soul of Islam between these militants and more peaceful interpretations of the Koran. He compares Islamism to Nazism or communism—an ideology that promises a perfect society.