shafique wrote:
1. How many people were involved in the 9/11 attacks - how many actually had knowledge and gave support to the attacks?
2. Why did Al Qaeda carry out the attacks?
3. Roughly how many people died in the attacks? (I know you can look this up - but please answer before doing so)
4. How has the world changed since 9/11?
5. Have the actions in Iraq increased or decreased the risk of terrorist attacks?
1. I never had given thought to how many people were actually involved. I would have to guess between 20 - 30 people. Like Kanelli said, if too many people had previous knowledge of it; the whole thing may never have had happened in the begining.
2. This is something that I have spent countless hours talking with my friends, family, and co-workers with. A family member of mine told me that it was the U.S government that was the one behind the attacks. That they had planned it out, only to aide in their crusade against Muslims. Friends have told me that its purely the hatred that Osama Bin Laden has towards westerners, that he despises their way of life and that they refuse to change their religious beliefs. Co-workers have said basically the same. Me -- well, honestly I am torn. When 9/11 happened I was devistated. I was torn inside. I didnt want to believe that it was really carried out by Muslims, yet I couldnt understand why a government would want to destroy their own country. When I heard on the news the following weeks, how they had discovered evidence on the hiijackers of their actions leading up to 9/11 I began to doubt. For instance, they had claimed that one of the hiijackers had attended a bar/club the night prior to 9/11 and that they had found a Quran he left behind in the bar/club. For me, that made absolutely no sense. Ok, the guy wants to get drunk and have sex before he dies -- makes sense, but taking his Holy Book with him to such a place; cant buy it. Also, after viewing many of the documentaries made surround the 9/11 incident, I was convinced that it was indeed some kind of conspiracy. So to be honest, and I know most will not like my opinion, but I do not believe that it is something that Muslims committed and there is something that is being left out.
3. I believe it somewhere between 2500 - 3000 individuals, unfortunately.
4. The world has not changed for the better. It has become more prejudice, judgmental, and close-minded than it ever has been. People have begun to fear things and others (more precisely arabs and muslims) in a more dangerous manner. I also believe that the world has become a more violent and dangerous place to live; and unfortunately I dont see it changing any time soon.
5. Of course those actions taken have increased the risk of attacks. Look at whats going on in the Middle East, I think that is proof enough.