While everybody mourned with the Americans in their moment of grief, the ‘war on terror' was not the sole prerogative of the George W. Bush administration. The Arab world had been fighting against extremism for decades. Years before the tragic events of September 11, Arab states dealt with the dangerous trend of suicide bombings and merciless random attacks on civilians and in many ways, September 11 took their own campaign forward.
In the immediate aftermath, the US, with the full assistance of the Northern Alliance, invaded Afghanistan where it believed Al Qaida was based. Months later, the Bush administration shifted its focus to Iraq, under the pretext that Saddam Hussain posed a direct threat to American security because of his alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction.
Bush decided to target the heart of the Middle East without presenting sufficient evidence for his war or even a post-invasion strategy. In this regard, victims of September 11 weren't limited to the nearly 3,000 Americans who died on that day, but to thousands of Muslims and Arabs in the Middle East as a direct result of US reaction. The impact of the poorly planned US-led invasion is still being felt today in Iraq, which is struggling to maintain security and stability. Arabs have also had to deal with the fact that America's war on terror has completely distracted it from its role in solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Instead of brokering a fair peace deal, the US continued to provide blind support to Israel. Ten years after September 11, the US continues to offer empty promises to the Palestinians while backing Israel even as it illegally builds more colonies and continues to occupy the West Bank and turns Gaza into an open prison. Without progress in Palestine and other parts of the region where the US is involved, violence will continue.
