9/11
I. Middle East
a. For a long time most of the Middle East
and North Africa were 1 big
Government
i. Islamic Empire
1. Ottoman Empire
ii. United by Religion
iii. Different Ethnic Groups
b. Ottoman Empire falls apart after
World War I (WWI)
i. European Countries establish
colonies in Middle East
1. People not happy being ruled
by outsiders
c. Colonies fall apart after World War II
i. Dictators take control
1. Dictators tend to worry
about themselves and their
friends
2. Not the good of the people
d. Osama Bin Laden did not like
dictatorships
i. Believed the Islamic world as one
entity bound by religion
ii. Dictatorships were only in power
because of help from the West
1. West being the United States
and Western Europe
II. Afghanistan
a. Islamic country
b. Invaded by the Soviet Union in the
early 80’s
i. Osama Bin Laden sees this as a
country attacking the Religion of
Islam
1. He sees the Islamic world as
one entity
2. Calls upon the Islamic world
to send freedom fighters to
defend not only Afghanistan, but
Islam itself.
a.If you die defending Islam, it
is believed you go straight to
heaven
3. Soviet Union eventually gives
up and goes home
a.Bin Laden a hero
III. Sadam Hussein
a. “President” of Iraq
b. Decides in the early 90’s to annex
the country of Kuwait
i. Annex means to have one country
join another
c. What to do?
i. Bin Laden wants to keep this a
Muslim problem, and solve it using
freedom fighters
1. Like Afghanistan
2. Do not need the West
3. Meets with Saudi Arabian
Government and proposes
above
4. They say no
ii. Saudi Arabian Government had
close ties to George H.W. Bush
1. United Stated (United
Nations) to protect Saudi Arabia
a.Operation Desert Shield
2. United States to liberate
Kuwait
a.Operation Desert Storm
3. Kuwait Liberated
IV. 90’s
a.Our main concern in the Middle East
was Sadam Hussein
i. Did he have Weapons of Mass
Destruction that could harm
Americans
1.
Nuclear
2. Poison Gas
b. Osama Bin Laden’s main concern in
the 90’s was the United State’s
presence in the Middle East
i. Bin Laden believed Islam was at war
with the United States
1. Any attack on the United
States was defending Islam
a.to get it out of the Middle
East
b. So it would stop
supporting Dictators
c. People could then be free to
live in one Islamic empire
again
V. Terrorism
a.Tactic not an ethnic group
1. Not Doctor Heinz
Doofenshmirtz
ii. Committed by desperate groups
with little power
iii. Against a greater power
iv. Make the other side’s population
tired of war
v. Takes a long time
b. 90’s
i. Bin Laden attacks
1. US Embassies
2. World Trade Center in 1993
a.Fertilizer bomb in a van in
the basement goes off
i. Towers do not fall
3. USS Cole
a.Destroyer blown up
i. About 150 died
4. 911
c. War on Terror
i. Declared by George W. Bush
1. Any country who
a.sponsors terrorism as a
tactic,
b. or harbors terrorist
organizations in their country
c. is an enemy of the United
States and subject to Military
intervention
ii. Afghanistan
1. Run by the Taliban
a.Extremist Islamic group
b. Ran the country
2.
Refuse to give up Bin Laden
a.He is a guest of theirs
b. They do not believe he
committed 911
3. We invade Afghanistan to
remove the Taliban and get Bin
Laden
a.Remove Taliban
b. Do not get Bin Laden
i. Slips into Pakistan
iii. Iraq
1. Bush administration went to
great lengths to make a
connection between Osama Bin
Laden and Sadam Hussein
2. Evidence was presented to
the UN stating that Sadam had
Weapons of Mass destruction
3. GW Bush declares a
preemptive war
a.We invade Iraq and remove
Hussein from power
b. Bush Declares Mission
Accomplished in 2003
i. After we capture Hussein
ii. No weapons of mass
destruction ever found
iii. Sadam admits he never
had them
1. He was bluffing to
keep Iran at bay
4. Iraq becomes a mess
a.Comprised of Sunni and
Shi’ite Muslims
i. They have been killing
each other for 1000 years
b. Ethnic clashes between
Arabs and Kurds
c. Al Qaeta operatives
disrupting U.S. efforts at
Nation building
5. Afghanistan was not a
priority
a.Taliban reemerges
b. Weak government
d. Arab Spring
i. Series of protests and
demonstrations against the
totalitarian dictators that exist in the
Middle east and North Africa
ii. In 3 cases, dictators were removed
1. Proving wrong the theory of
al Qaeda that the only path to
freedom is removal of U.S.
influence.
e.
Arab Spring map:
Revolution
Civil war
Sustained civil disorder and governmental changes
changes
Major protests
Minor protests
Protests outside the Arab world
Protests and governmental