9-11 Failures

March 27th, 2010

The Failures of the United States Government and its Agencies Before and During 9/11

Introduction

The infamous day of September 11th, 2001 was no doubt a tragedy. The United States lost 2998 innocent citizens in an attack that could have been prevented. This is not the first or the last time our country has seen this harassment. The reason these acts of terrorism are carried out so successfully is because our government has failed to learn from the mistakes and shortfalls that allowed previous offenses. The little reform following these attack allowed the terrorists to strike in similar manners each time. Now, many Americans are starting to believe that the United States government should take some responsibility for the assaults because of their neglect to take preventative action. An example of this is the lack of coordination between government agencies and the inadequate resources provided that was greatly needed to successfully hinder an attack. The US government and its agencies can learn from past mistakes and restructure their systems to better defend against the pressing terrorist threat.

Surprise!

In the past century, our country has come under foreign attack in several instances. The attacks on Pearl Harbor, the World Trade Center in 1993, and on the several targets of September 11th all seemed to have caught the public by surprise. However, the US government knew these attacks were very probable, yet neglected to take the appropriate action needed to prevent them (Byman). Al Qaeda had been warning the United States Government for a decade before they carried out their massive attack in 2001. But why the United States?

To better understand Al Qaeda’s aggression against the United States, let us examine their motives and credibility. In a 1997 interview between Peter Arnett and Osama Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader laid out his reasoning for Al Qaeda’s jihad (a holy war undertaken by Muslims against unbelievers) against the...