BigMike wrote:
It was seminal in more ways than are apparent.
In essence, 9/11 was the culmination of the work of Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian journalist and teacher, who spent 2 years in the United States beginning in 1948 (the year Israel was officially established as a sovereign nation). Qutb came here with the intention of learning all he could about western culture. He was appalled by what he perceived as loose sexual openness of American men and women, he thought our sports, art and culture were totally debauched. Qutb concluded that major aspects of American life were primitive and "shocking"; he saw Americans as "numb to faith in religion, faith in art, and faith in spiritual values altogether".
So, he returned to Egypt and began his writings that radicalized to an extreme the Islamic doctrines regarding war on the infidels, even to the point of introducing suicide as a terror tactic (even though the Qu'ran forbids Muslims to k**l themselves). As one of the original founders of the Muslim Brotherhood, he was thought of as the MB godfather. Qutb was outspoken in his opposition to secular governments in Islamic countries, especially that in his home country Egypt. He wrote and preached "Pure Islam", which was, coincidentally, the same feeling Osama bin Laden had about his home country Saudi Arabia. Qutb's writings and radicalism was promoted and spread by his brother, Mohammed, who became a teacher of Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia. It was here that Mohammed Qutb and Osama bin Laden became friends. The Yemeni-American terrorist recruiter and attack planner, Anwar al-Awlaki, was another ardent student of Qutb's writings.
One of Muhammad Qutb's students and later an ardent follower was Ayman Zawahiri, who went on to become a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and later a mentor of Osama bin Laden and a leading member of al-Qaeda. Qutb's radicalism inspired terrorist leaders in Egypt and elsewhere.
One of the best sources, though not the only one, for the history of radical Islam and terrorism leading up to the 9/11 attack and beyond is the work of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Lawrence Wright. His book,
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is a critically acclaimed documentation of the entire sordid history of Islamic fundamentalism. In his research, Wright interviewed nearly 500 people from both sides of the story, including members of al Qaeda and some members of Osama bin Laden's family.
Yeah, this is definitely what is not apparent to so many westerners today, especially the 9/11 conspiracy theorists.