Essay Example on 9/11: Flaws in Pre-Attack Response and Aftermath

In human history, 9/11 was the deadliest terrorist attack on firefighters and law enforcement officers in the United States history. The result was collateral damage from a clash within Islam, which was solely engineered by Al Qaeda. The 9/11 seemed to vindicate the theory that clashes between civilizations would replace cold war rivalries. This paper aims at identifying the flaws following the 6th PDB that warned the president of Bin Laden’s desire to attack the U.S. and how the events could be changed.

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Many grievances arise from the ideologies that the West is at war with the Muslim recognized through wars raged against Islam in their lands by western nations and the discrimination experienced in non-Muslim countries. Trying to understand what caused violent Islamic extremists do not conclude that the U.S. condoned terrorist attacks. Instead, following their perspectives could have helped counter their ideologies. The plot of the 9/11 attacks was preventable but went undetectable due to lapses in communication between the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. The central intelligence agency had identified the terror connections between the suspects’ two tears before the attacks through the many Muslim circles that the F.B.I. Had infiltrated. The intelligence agency and the F.B.I. had the best opportunity to unravel the 9/11 plot if they had shared information and the latter F.B.I. used its informants more aggressively. The two agencies had failed to counter the attacks even when they discovered that Osama Bin Laden was determined to attack the United States for years (Angerer, 2019). The federal bureau of investigation was not alerted by the central intelligence agency or provided with the names of the men on the watch list until weeks before the attacks. Some of the F.BI informants who made contact with the terror suspects were alerted that they belonged to the Al Qaeda.

If the United States could collaborate some of the sensational reporting of threats, such as those from intelligence agencies, the situation could have been manipulated to better outcomes. The central intelligence agency contained some of the terror suspects' names, which could have enabled the F.B.I. Informants track them down since they had previously had contact with them, but they were not aware of their affiliations. Also, some of Al Qaeda operatives were under the jurisdiction of C.I.A., but the F.B.I. was not allowed to interrogate them due to the independence of each agency. Although the Tanzania and Kenya attacks were not successful, President Bush administration had realized that setbacks did not deter bin Laden, and there existed an imminent attack on U.S. soil. In 1998, Muslim-American youths were being recruited in Bin Ladin cell in New York for attacks. At the same time, an Egyptian Islamic Jihadist informed the United States that Bin Laden was preparing to stage a terrorist attack by exploiting his operatives in the United States (Angerer, 2019). The government could have prevented this by ensuring all flights were grounded in realizing that the United States was at risk, primarily through attacks on International airports. Going on with normal activities was a way of sacrificing United States citizens, which could have otherwise been prevented.

Conclusion

In conclusion, 9/11 was collateral damage in a civil war in the universe of political Islam. Therefore the 6th PDB could have taken a different path if the necessary intelligence information was obtained between the F.B.I. and the intelligence agency to counter the terrorist activities at hand. This calls for collaboration between different intelligence agencies for better outcomes in combating terrorists.

References

Angerer, D. (2019). September 11 attacks. https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks