- cross-posted to:
- usnews@lemy.lol
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- cross-posted to:
- usnews@lemy.lol
- world@lemmy.world
The global War on Terror was based on a mistake.
Quintupling down are we? Never change, The Atlantic.
ETA: Not sure if there’s a paywall, so just in case: https://archive.ph/68sf0
To be fair afghanistan was where bin laden was holed up.
On May 2,[a] 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six (also known as DEVGRU).[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden#:~:text=On May 2%2C 2011%2C Osama,(also known as DEVGRU)
Maybe he was in Afghanistan during some of that time period, but he was pretty comfortable in Pakistan.
He was in Afghanistan until the assault to capture him on Tora Bora, when he escaped to <fuck all knows where> because the US was distracted trying to invade Iraq. Because Bush made shit up.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-111SPRT53709/html/CPRT-111SPRT53709.htm
Talib government at the time asked US for evidence of Osama involvement, they would consider extradition. They didn’t get any. Thinking about it, neither did we.
Even if the US had 2024 intelligence at the time they would have still went after the rest of al kaida, in particular the rest of the leadership. It is sorta funny because I think they did buy into bin ladens press who ended up being just like trump or others. rich guy not going to be living in a cave and surprise surprise actually lives in luxury while pretending to be this cave dwelling freedom fighter man of the people.
Except he was found in Pakistan, yes?
yes, although even if the US had 2024 intelligence at the time they would have still went after the rest of al kaida, in particular the rest of the leadership. It is sorta funny because I think they did buy into bin ladens press who ended up being just like trump or others. rich guy not going to be living in a cave and surprise surprise actually lives in luxury while pretending to be this cave dwelling freedom fighter man of the people.
If you read the full article, it seems as if the Saudi religious establishment was infiltrated by Egyptian extremists fleeing a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood following the assassination of Sadat. Their ideology meshed with Wahhabism and Bin Laden’s religious vendetta against the United States. The Saudi state apparatus did not have effective oversight over the religious establishment and so this all happened under the House of Saud’s nose. The countries in red are (at the time) places with either US puppet regimes or some form of Arab Revolt descended, nominally secular/socialist regimes. The religious extremists pushing Islamic rule operated in these countries under various militias and terrorist groups, notably Al Qaeda, backed by the newly radicalized Saudi Wahhabi establishment, and of course, Iran.
From that perspective, the US was waging war against militias and terrorist groups with roots and support in Saudi Arabia, but the House of Saud was not considered to be complicit. The article goes on to say…
Interesting stuff, to be sure.
Bin Laden was “from” within the borders of the Saudi Arabian (Sunni) state but he was a Shiite pan-islamist and a lot of Al Quaeda’s support came from Iran, a major enemy of Saudi Arabia.
This is just to say it’s much more complicated than “Saudis did 9/11”, and maps like this grossly oversimplify things when they put Arab peoples into the types of cultural boxes westerners are used to seeing. It doesn’t apply here.