The September 11 attacks were condemned by world leaders and other political and religious representatives and the international media, as well as numerous memorials and services all over the world. The attacks were widely condemned by world governments, including those traditionally considered hostile to the United States, such as Cuba, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, and Afghanistan itself. However, in a few cases celebrations of the attacks were also reported,[ not verified in body ] and some groups and individuals[ who? ] accused the United States in effect of bringing the attacks on itself. These reports have been uncorroborated [1] and many have been linked to unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. [2]
Many countries introduced anti-terrorism legislation [3] and froze the bank accounts [4] of businesses and individuals they suspected of having connections with al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, the perpetrators of the attacks.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the Bush administration declared a war on terrorism, with the stated goals of bringing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice and preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks. These goals were to be accomplished by means including economic and military sanctions against states perceived as harboring terrorists and increasing global surveillance and intelligence sharing. Within hours after the September 11 attacks, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld speculated on possible involvement by Saddam Hussein and ordered his aides to make plans for striking Iraq; [5] although unfounded, the association contributed to public acceptance for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The second-biggest operation of the US Global War on Terrorism outside of the United States, and the largest directly connected to terrorism, was the overthrow of the Taliban rule from Afghanistan, by a US-led coalition.
In a Joint Statement by the American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Council, Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers, Association of Muslim Social Scientists, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Medical Association of North America, Islamic Circle of North America, Islamic Society of North America, Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim American Society and Muslim Public Affairs Council, stated: [6]
American Muslims utterly condemn the vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians. We join with all Americans in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.
President George W. Bush, a devout Christian, quoted Psalm 23 in his Address to the Nation [7] immediately following the attacks:
America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."
Bush also called for solidarity with Muslims and Islam following attacks on Arab-Americans and Muslims, stating "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war." [8]
Reverend Billy Graham gave a sermon at the Washington National Cathedral for a memorial service to the victims of the terrorist attacks, declaring the need for spiritual renewal, and imploring Americans to bond together through struggle and strengthen their faith, and not to fragment and disintegrate as a people and nation. [9]
Christian vigils, prayer services, and memorials occurred in many states across the United States. [10]
Two days following the attacks, on the Christian television program The 700 Club , televangelist Jerry Falwell called the event a punishment from God and laid the blame on "paganists", "abortionists", "feminists" and "gays and lesbians", claiming that they "helped this happen". Host Pat Robertson concurred with the statements. Both evangelists came under attack from President George W. Bush for their statements [11] and Falwell subsequently apologized. [12] [13]
Five days following the attacks, Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave a sermon at the United Trinity Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, claiming that the attacks were recompense for various injustices that the United States and Americans had perpetrated, before stating that now was a time for self-examination. [14]
According to left-wing intellectuals Michael Walzer, Leo Casey, Michael Kazin, James B. Rule, and Ann Snitow, writing in Dissent , one of the responses by the American left to the September 11 attacks was to blame American actions, including the Gulf War, sanctions against Iraq, support for Saudi Arabia, and support for Israel, for provoking the September 11 attack. [15] Walzer later described the left's response to 9/11 as a "radical failure." [16]
After the attacks many governments and organizations in the western world and several pro-U.S. allies expressed shock and sympathy, and were supportive of burgeoning efforts to combat terrorism. Among them are:
Almost all Muslim political and religious leaders condemned the attacks. The leaders vehemently denouncing the attacks included the leaders of Egypt (Hosni Mubarak), the Palestinian Authority (Yasser Arafat), Libya (Muammar Gaddafi), Syria (Bashar al-Assad), Iran (Mohamed Khatami) and Pakistan (Pervez Musharraf). [6] [76] The sole exception was Iraq, when the then-president Saddam Hussein, said of the attacks that "the American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes against humanity". [77] Saddam would later offer sympathy to the Americans killed in the attacks. [78]
In 2008, John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed published the findings of a six-year effort to poll and interview tens of thousands of Muslims in more than 35 countries with Muslim majorities or substantial minorities about reactions to the September 11 attacks: 23.1 percent of respondents said the attacks were in some way justified, and 7 percent viewed them as "completely justified." [79] According to Pew Research, the majority of Muslims do not believe the official 9/11 story. [80]
A group of Palestinians were filmed at Damascus Gate celebrating after they had heard local news reports of attacks on the World Trade Center and the deaths of thousands of Americans. [102] Fox News reported that in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, revelers fired weapons in the air, with similar celebratory gunfire also heard at the Rashidiyeh camp near the southern city of Tyre. [103] Yasser Arafat and nearly all the leaders of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) condemned the attacks. They censored and attempted to discredit broadcasts and other Palestinian news reports justifying the attacks in America, [103] with many newspapers, magazines, websites and wire services running photographs of Palestinian public celebrations. [104] [105] The PNA claimed such celebrations were not representative of the sentiments of the Palestinians, and the Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the PNA would not allow "a few kids" to "smear the real face of the Palestinians". In an attempt to quell further reporting, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, Arafat's Cabinet secretary, said the Palestinian Authority could not "guarantee the life" of an Associated Press (AP) cameraman if footage he filmed of post-9/11 celebrations in Nablus was broadcast. Rahman's statement prompted a formal protest from the AP bureau chief, Dan Perry. [106] [105]
Arafat said of the attacks: "It's unbelievable. We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinians." He gave blood for victims of the attack in a Gaza hospital. [42]
James Bennet reported in The New York Times that while "most" towns in the West Bank were quiet, some drivers in East Jerusalem were honking horns in celebration; he also wrote that he saw one man passing out celebratory candy. [107] Big crowds of Palestinians celebrated in Nablus, chanting Beloved bin Laden, strike Tel Aviv! while Palestinian Authority personnel prevented photographers from taking pictures. [107] Annette Krüger Spitta of the German public broadcaster ARD's TV magazine Panorama states that unaired footage shows the street surrounding the celebration in Jerusalem was quiet. Furthermore, she states that a man in a white T-shirt incited the children and gathered people together for the shot. The Panorama report, dated September 20, 2001, quotes Communications Professor Martin Löffelholz explaining that in the images one sees jubilant Palestinian children and several adults, but there is no indication that their pleasure is related to the attack. The woman seen cheering stated afterwards that she was offered cake if she celebrated on camera, and was frightened when she saw the pictures on television afterward. [108] [109]
There was also a rumour that the footage of some Palestinians celebrating the attacks was stock footage of Palestinian reactions to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. [110] This rumour was proven false shortly afterwards, [111] with CNN and Reuters issuing a statement to that effect. [112] [113] A poll of Palestinians conducted by the Fafo Foundation in 2005 found that 65% of respondents supported "Al Qaeda bombings in the USA and Europe". [114]
Polls taken several years later by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya and Gallup suggest some support for the September 11 attacks within the Islamic world, with 38% believing the attacks to be not justified, while 36% believing them to be justified when Saudis were polled in 2011. [121] Another 2008 study, produced by Gallup, found that 7% of the sample of Muslims polled believing the 9/11 attacks were "completely" justified. [122]
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States government responded by commencing immediate rescue operations at the World Trade Center site, grounding civilian aircraft, and beginning a long-term response that included official investigations, legislative changes, military action, and restoration projects.
The phrase "axis of evil" was first used by U.S. President George W. Bush and originally referred to Iran, Ba'athist Iraq, and North Korea. It was used in Bush's State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, less than five months after the September 11 attacks and almost a year before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and often repeated throughout his presidency. He used it to describe foreign governments that, during his administration, allegedly sponsored terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.
The September 11 attacks transformed the first term of President George W. Bush and led to what he referred to as the war on terror. The accuracy of describing it as a "war" and its political motivations and consequences are the topic of strenuous debate. The U.S. government increased military operations, economic measures, and political pressure on groups that it accused of being terrorists, as well as increasing pressure on the governments and countries which were accused of sheltering them. October 2001 saw the first military action initiated by the US. Under this policy, NATO invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban regime and capture al-Qaeda forces.
The post–September 11 anti-war movement is an anti-war social movement that emerged after the September 11 terrorist attacks in response to the war on terror.
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of suicide attacks carried out by homegrown terrorists on London's public transport network during the morning rush hour.
On 1 June 2001, a Hamas-affiliated terrorist blew himself up outside the Dolphinarium discotheque on the beachfront in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing 21 Israelis, 16 of whom were teenagers. The majority of the victims were Israeli teenage girls whose families had recently immigrated from the former Soviet Union.
There is a wide range of Muslim attitudes towards terrorism.
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. On that morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California. The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and aimed the next two flights toward targets in or near Washington, D.C., in an attack on the nation's capital. The third team succeeded in striking the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia, while the fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt. The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the multi-decade global war on terror to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and several other countries.
On 6 March 2008, a lone Palestinian gunman shot multiple students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, a religious school in West Jerusalem. Eight students and the assailant were killed. Eleven more were wounded, five of them placed in serious to critical condition.
The international reactions to the Beslan school hostage crisis was as follows:
Reactions to the 2008 Mumbai attacks were on the local, national and international levels. Political reactions in Mumbai and throughout India included a range of resignations and political changes. Other reactions included condemnation of the attacks by an Indian Muslim organisation and Naxalites. International reactions to the attacks was widespread, with many countries and international organisations condemning the attacks and expressing their condolences to the civilian victims. Media coverage highlighted the use of new media and internet social-networking tools in spreading information about the attacks, observing that internet coverage was often faster than more-traditional media sources.
The 2010 Zahedan bombings were two suicide bombings on 15 July 2010 that targeted Shia worshippers in Iran, including members of the Revolutionary Guards. The bombings targeted those celebrating the birthday of a Muslim saint at the Jamia mosque in Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by Jundullah in revenge for the execution of their leader by the Iranian government. Amongst the reactions and national and supranational condemnations, Iran blamed the United States and Israel for facilitating the attack.
Following the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks that began on September 11, 2012, many nations and public officials released statements. Widespread early news coverage said that the protests were a spontaneous response to an online preview of Innocence of Muslims, a movie considered offensive to Muslims. Later consideration of the Libya attack's complexity, of statements made by some Libyan officials, and of the potentially symbolic date fueled speculation of preplanned efforts. U.S. missions in Cairo, Egypt, and Benghazi, Libya, were attacked during the first day of the protest.
This international reactions to the Charlie Hebdo Shooting contains issued statements in response to the 7 January 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting. The response was largely one of condemnation.
On the night of 13 November 2015, Paris suffered a series of terror attacks. In reaction to those events, many individuals, governments, and other organisations around the world expressed their solidarity with France and with the victims. Many world leaders issued statements, mostly strongly condemning the attacks and vowing to stand by and support France. Public vigils took place in many international cities, and a number of world landmarks were illuminated in the colours of the French flag. Members of the public expressed their solidarity through social media by sharing images, notably the "Peace for Paris" symbol, designed by the French graphic designer Jean Jullien, and through the slogans, "Pray for Paris" and "Je suis Paris".
A number of countries, national leaders and international organisations expressed comments or lit monuments in reaction to the 2016 Brussels bombings.
On the evening of 10 December 2016, two explosions caused by a car bombing and suicide bombing in Istanbul's Beşiktaş municipality killed 48 people and injured 166 others. 39 of those killed were police officers, 7 were civilians and 2 were perpetrators. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) assumed responsibility, claiming that their members killed more than 100 police officers.
The 2017 Tehran attacks were a series of two simultaneous terrorist attacks that occurred on 7 June 2017 that were carried out by five terrorists belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, Iran, leaving 17 civilians dead and 43 wounded. The shootings were the first terrorist attacks in Tehran in more than a decade, and the first major terror attack in the country since the 2010 Zahedan bombings.
The reactions to the 2017 Tehran attacks include the responses by political and religious leaders, media and the general public, both within Iran, where the 2017 Tehran attacks took place, and from other nations and international organizations. Numerous notable establishments around the world also held memorials.
The Rafah terror attack was a terrorist attack conducted by the Islamic State – Sinai Province on an Egyptian Armed Forces checkpoint in Rafah in North Sinai on 7 July 2017 and resulted in the death and injury of 23 Egyptian soldiers, including the high-ranking El-Sa'ka officer, Col. Ahmed Mansi. 46 terrorists were killed and six cars of the militants were destroyed in the attack.
Thus we can surmise that the North Korean discourse on Islamist terrorism was closest to that of the American far-left: that while some aspects of the initial response were justified, this was just another act of unjustified aggression in the bloody history of American imperialism.