American marines insulting dead bodies

[nikhil25]

Re: American marines insulting dead bodies

@Med911

Wasnt the ultimate seed that lead up to 9/11 sown by the US? Wasnt it the US that created the mess to begin with in pursuit of its cold war interests?

While no one can support 9/11, or the killing of innocent people, but the US did create the problem to begin with.

Its difficult to sympathize completely with the US given their history of involvement in the region. The US is as much a victim of its own policies, as it is of Al Qaeda.

It would be naive to believe that its completely unprovoked. I know we all demonize Al Qaeda and the Taliban, I do the same. I think we turn them into almost fictitious super villains, whose sole purpose is world domination..
But I dont think reality is so 1 dimensional. There is a very long and complex history that has created Al Qaeda, and the animosity that seems to be present in the Muslim world.

this is a fashionable view that falls apart quickly upon closer inspection. what “seed” are you talking about? let’s be specific. there are two acts in question here: al-qaeda’s act(s) of war against the US and the taliban’s act of abetment. your view suggests one or both were provoked by the US.

1. was al-qaeda’s primary act of war (9/11) provoked by the US?
   your reference to “cold war interests” (presumably meaning US involvement in the soviet-afghan war) is not relevant here. al-qaeda was not a political actor with specific grievances. it was an ideological actor driven by a perverse and fanatical pan-islamist agenda. the only citable grievances were US military bases in saudi arabia and the general notion of support for israel. neither comes anywhere close to a justification for 9/11, that too by an unaggrieved party like al-qaeda.

2. was the taliban’s abetment of al-qaeda provoked by the US?
   your soviet-afghan war reference is relevant here but where is the provocation? the US is generally considered guilty of “ignoring” the country after the soviets left. your logic suggests that by “ignoring” the country, the US can be held responsible for virtually any criminal act to take place in afghanistan or by any afghan government thenceforth. or perhaps you are saying that the taliban’s very existence (and therefore their actions 12 years later) was a result of US involvement in the soviet-afghan war? if so, then that’s an extremely long and circuitous link to 9/11 that can be equally applied to many different parties. that logic becomes silly very fast.

i think you are generally retrofitting the pre-9/11 era with post-iraq war sentiment regarding US foreign policy. this is something that many people are doing these days, perhaps subconsciously. there are many valid criticisms of US foreign policy (particularly in the middle east) but let’s not connect the wrong dots in haste.