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Questions
& Answers on 911
Q: Why was the World Trade Center attacked on
September 11, 2001?
A: For glory, in this world and the next. The
attackers wish to create an aggressive theocracy in the Persian Gulf. The
presence of the United States in the region thwarts that ambition.
Q: Are there contributing factors?
A: The US neglected the region after the Gulf
War in order to deal with domestic matters. The US response to attacks on US
installations and personnel has been symbolic and ineffective. This was good
evidence that the US is unable to retaliate seriously.
Q: Why do the people of the Middle East hate the
US enough to do this?
A: They don't. Hate is not the explanation.
Brutal acts will be committed when they seem likely to be profitable and to go
unpunished. As the decline in domestic crime in the US during the 1990s
demonstrated, the search for "root causes" is an evasion.
Q: Is it arrogant for Americans to seek to
enlist the whole world in the conflict?
A: The necessary is never arrogant. True
arrogance consists in the attitude of some Americans that they are so safe that
they need not concern themselves with mere questions of survival, but need
focus only on ascertaining their own degree of culpability for the attack.
Q: Is this the end of globalization?
A: In effect, September 11 signifies an attempt
to export Middle Eastern political culture to the rest of the world. When
commerce expands beyond the range of law enforcement, piracy is the result.
September 11 probably initiated a decade-long process of expanding security
institutions to cover the global economic system.
Q: Was September 11 the beginning of a war
between civilizations?
A: Yes, though the conflict is an asymmetric
encounter between states on the one hand and private adventurers on the other.
The conflict will continue to be asymmetric, even if states join the adventurers.
To put the matter briefly, the West is approaching a phase of unity, while
Middle Eastern civilization continues the disintegration that began with the
decline of the Ottoman Empire. The conflict will accelerate both processes.
Q: Is this the end of "The end of History"?
A: Not in the sense that Francis Fukuyama meant
in his book by that name. The conflict that began on September 11 does not
present the question of which ideology will prevail within Western society.
Those issues have been settled. The September 11 conflict is just a fight for
the survival of Western society.
Copyright © 2001 by John J. Reilly