[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022ds-1col clearfix\u0022\u003E\n\n  \n\n  \n  \u003Cp\u003EThough al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden did not become household names to many Americans until after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Western media outlets immediately suggested that Bin Laden\u2014or groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Egypt\u2019s Islamic Jihad\u2014likely had a hand in the plot.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ENumerous articles published by the \u003Cem\u003ENew York Times\u003C\/em\u003E on September 12 raised the likelihood that Bin Laden was a prime suspect. As one article put it, \u201cNobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. But the scale and sophistication of the operation, the extraordinary planning required for concerted hijackings by terrorists who had to be familiar with modern jetliners, and the history of major attacks on American targets in recent years led many officials and experts to point to Osama bin Laden, the Islamic militant believed to operate out of Afghanistan.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003ESerge Schmemann, \u201cU.S. ATTACKED; President Vows to Exact Punishment for \u2018Evil,\u2019\u201d \u003Cem\u003ENew York Times\u003C\/em\u003E, September 12, 2001, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2001\/09\/12\/us\/us-attacked-president-vows-to-exact-punishment-for-evil.html?gwt=pay\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2001\/09\/12\/us\/us-attacked-president-vows-to-exact-punishment-for-evil.html?gwt=pay\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAnother article, titled, \u201cAmerica the Vulnerable Meets a Ruthless Enemy,\u201d pointed out that, \u201cOne of those certain to be high on that [suspect] list, Osama bin Laden, has made America\u2019s helplessness in the face of terrorism a rallying cry, one he has used repeatedly to taunt the United States and to draw new recruits to his ranks of suicide bombers.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003EJohn F. Burns, \u201cAmerica the Vulnerable Meets a Ruthless Enemy,\u201d \u003Cem\u003ENew York Times\u003C\/em\u003E, September 12, 2001, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2001\/09\/12\/international\/12OSAM.html\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2001\/09\/12\/international\/12OSAM.html\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFor its part, the \u003Cem\u003EWall Street Journal\u003C\/em\u003E suggested \u201cmultiple reasons to suspect Islamic extremists\u201d like Bin Laden. For one, four al-Qaeda members were convicted in a Manhattan courtroom for their roles in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. \u201cAt the same time, Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the spiritual leader of Al-Gama\u2019a al-Islamiyya, Egypt\u2019s largest militant group, sits in a U.S. prison in Minnesota for his role in planning an earlier but failed attempt at terrorism.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003EDavid S. Cloud and Neil King, \u201cAttacks on Symbols of U.S. Power Alter Nation\u2019s View of World Role,\u201d \u003Cem\u003EWall Street Journal\u003C\/em\u003E, September 12, 2001, 1, 12, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/public\/resources\/documents\/wsj-paper-09122001.pdf\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/online.wsj.com\/public\/resources\/documents\/wsj-paper-09122001.pdf\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, in the UK, the \u003Cem\u003EGuardian\u2019s\u003C\/em\u003E coverage was not as quick to point the finger at Bin Laden. Ahdaf Soueif wrote, \u201cYou could almost say that US officialdom, the media and Hollywood dreamed this nightmare into reality\u2026The prime suspect, we are told, is Osama bin Laden. It may have been him\u2026Why did he do it? Because he hates America and wants to damage her?...Then why does he not gloat? Why has he said it was not his doing? The too-easy thing about having a fanatic perpetrator is that you can ignore logical questions to do with purpose and motivation.\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003EAhdaf Soueif, \u201cOur Poor, Our Weak, Our Hungry,\u201d \u003Cem\u003EGuardian\u003C\/em\u003E (London), September 15, 2001, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2001\/sep\/15\/september11.politicsphilosophyandsociety\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2001\/sep\/15\/september11.politicsphilosophyandsociety\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso writing in the \u003Cem\u003EGuardian\u003C\/em\u003E, John Sutherland criticized George W. Bush\u2019s rhetoric against al-Qaeda as \u201cchillingly fundamentalist.\u201d In response to Bush\u2019s claim that Americans\u2019 responsibility was to \u201canswer these attacks and rid the world of evil,\u201d Sutherland retorted, \u201cThe world? At least Reagan only wanted to destroy the evil empire\u2026Bush, it seems, has Alexandrian ambitions in his world war on evil.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003EJohn Sutherland, \u201cCrazy Talk,\u201d \u003Cem\u003EGuardian\u003C\/em\u003E (London), September 18, 2001, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2001\/sep\/19\/september11.usa\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2001\/sep\/19\/september11.usa\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E Near the end of his piece, Sutherland skewered Bush for using the phrase \u201cour hearts are steel\u201d to mean that Americans will be steadfast in the face of terror. \u201cSteel is not what modern armies use for high-grade weaponry\u2026But somewhere, from the magmatic depths of his vocabulary, he wanted to echo Bismarck\u2019s \u2018Blut und Eisen\u2019\u2014blood and iron. It was adapted by Hitler, who instructed his troops that, in genocide, their hearts must be \u2018hart wie Kruppstahl\u2019\u2014hard as Krupps steel.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003EJohn Sutherland, \u201cCrazy Talk,\u201d \u003Cem\u003EGuardian\u003C\/em\u003E (London), September 18, 2001, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2001\/sep\/19\/september11.usa\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2001\/sep\/19\/september11.usa\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n","dialogOptions":{"minWidth":850,"resizable":true,"modal":true,"title":"9\/11 Attacks"}},{"command":"doFootnotes"}]