9/11: The U.S. Did It To Themselves

This week, seven years have passed since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the Arab world the most are still convinced that the U.S. themselves are responsible. As absurd as it may be, this delusion must be taken seriously.

To reject such conspiracy theories as nonsense is too simple, because it shows a gulf between the perception of reality in Western countries and Muslim countries. Journalists and others who have talked to average people around the bazaars, marketplaces and teahouses tell pretty much the same story. People in the Arab world simply do not believe that Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda are responsible for the attacks.

Maybe the people who executed the operation were Arab, but the brains? Not possible. This was organized by others. By the U.S. and the Israelis, says Mohammed Ibrahim, the proprietor of a clothes shop in Cairo to The New York Times. This attitude is widespread. It also reveals a failing Arab self-image. They simply doubt their own people’s ability to execute such a well planned and complicated attack against a superpower like the United States.

One rumor, even reported on television in some Arab countries, is that Jews who worked in the World Trade Center had been warned and told to stay home that day. That is claimed to be evidence that Israel was involved. That this is supposedly not true is simply not believed. In authoritarian and corrupt Arab nations, the faith in the government and mass media is so slim one has more faith in loose rumors around the bazaar than reliable sources.

It is claimed that the final proof that the U.S. did it is the war in Iraq. In Arab eyes, the U.S. only needed an excuse to secure Iraqi oil. The fact that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had no connection to 9/11 whatsoever is taken as further circumstantial evidence that this was merely the reason George W. Bush and his people needed – and therefore created.

These Arab beliefs expose a very serious communication problem. It speaks of two worlds who do not understand each other, and who cannot speak in a way that increases their understanding. This is dangerous, because the gulf will only become wider unless these problems are solved.

In the wider parts of the population in the Muslim countries, the Bush administration has lost all trust. It is too late to rectify this and George W. Bush started badly. We remember the overwhelming outpouring of sympathy to America hours and days after the attacks of 9/11. This included Arab nations. But Bush did not just declare “war on terror,” he declared a crusade. It was a catastrophic use of words that instantly took the attention away from the common fight on terrorism everyone initially supported. The crusade was perceived as a war cry against Islamic culture. The attempts to rectify the blunder were never heard.

Now we are reaping the bitter harvest. We can hope that the new administration taking over the United States in January can do better. But to rebuild the trust will take a long and focused effort.