Bin Laden Provoked a US "War on Terror" That Strengthened His Movement

Bin Laden Provoked a US "War on Terror" That Strengthened His Movement
Mark Weisbrot, The Center for Economic Policy and Research: "Bin Laden's goal was not, as some think, simply to bring down the US Empire. That is a goal shared by most of the world, who (fortunately for us) would not use terrorist violence to further this outcome. His specific goal was to transform the struggle between the United States and popular aspirations in the Muslim world into a war against Islam, or at least create the impression for many millions of people that this was the case. As we look around the world ten years after the attack, we can see that he had considerable success in this goal. The United States is occupying Afghanistan and Iraq, bombing Pakistan and Libya, and threatening Iran - all Muslim countries. To a huge part of the Muslim world, it looks like the United States is carrying out a modern-day Crusade against them, despite President Obama's assertions to contrary last night."
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