America's Terrorism Supporters Need a Dose of 9/11 Reality

Article by Lt. Col. James Zumwalt from WND cross-posted with permission.

(WND)—Forty-one states are suing the social media giant Meta over its negative impact on the mental health of children. There seems to be some justice in this claim as a 2021 release by a whistleblower of thousands of pages of documents concerning Meta’s own research support it, although the social media provider failed to act on the discovery. Additionally, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a warning last May about the serious potential risks to a child’s mental health.

But based on a recent flurry of social media activity on TikTok, there may be good reason to expand the lawsuit to include young adults who have demonstrated a lack of common sense, accepting at face value the contents of a 2002 letter written by the terrorist founder of al-Qaida and mastermind of 9/11, the late Osama bin Laden.

Whoever used TikTok to dust off bin Laden’s two-decades old “Letter to America” perhaps was prompted by the Oct. 7 Hamas raid into Israel in which, despite every conceivable violation of international law being perpetrated, the terrorists received outrageous public support after Israel declared all out war. Chinese owners of the social media provider undoubtedly allowed its posting as an opportunity to inflict public opinion damage upon Israel and the U.S. by sharing the letter with a new generation of Americans undoubtedly unfamiliar with the epistle. And, by stoking the pro-Hamas fires, terrorist sympathizers probably also hoped to trigger additional calls for a Gaza ceasefire.

Bin Laden’s letter laid out his justification for the 9/11 attacks on America. It was translated by a British newspaper and posted online, from where it was recently obtained and re-published. Interestingly, it has since been removed both by the British newspaper and TikTok due to criticism of the large pro-bin Laden response.

The terrorist leader called the creation of Israel a “crime” in which the U.S. was complicit and, therefore, made all Americans criminals as well. He went on to accuse America of stealing Arab wealth and oil – “the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world” – as well as being guilty of occupying Muslim lands. He labeled America “the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind.” He blamed America for the global spread of AIDS. The roughly 3,800-word English translation of the letter rambled on and on, painting the constant picture of Palestinians, and all Muslims for that matter, as victims of the U.S. and its allies. Conveniently ignored by bin Laden was that by 2009 al-Qaida was responsible for killing eight times more Muslims than non-Muslims simply for failing to embrace his version of Islam.

Naive readers, apparently applying the often-used claim by former President BIll Clinton, “I feel your pain,” responded by glorifying the terrorist’s rationale, totally ignoring the freedoms and values he sought to destroy. Over a thousand young Americans, accepting bin Laden’s diatribe at face value sans fact checking, felt sufficient pain to post a pro-terrorist response.

American journalist Yashar Ali reported some of these:

“Many of them say that reading the letter has opened their eyes, and they’ll never see geopolitical matters the same way again. … [and many] say it has made them reevaluate their perspective on how what is often labeled as terrorism can be a legitimate form of resistance to a hostile power.

“In one viral video, a woman said the letter is ‘wild’ and ‘everyone should read it,’ adding that reading it has ‘left her disillusioned.’

“Another woman said reading the letter left her reeling in an ‘existential crisis,’ and encouraged viewers to also read it. ‘In the last 20 minutes, my entire viewpoint on the entire life I have believed and I have lived has changed. Please read that entire letter.’

“‘I need you to stop what you’re doing and go read a “Letter to America,”‘ a male said on video. ‘It is literally the craziest thing I have read in a while and while I can’t say that I’m not surprised, I’m pretty shocked.’ He then proceeded to read the following X post, which he said was reminiscent of the letter: ‘Under settler colonialism, any kind of resistance is branded as [terrorism] because the only acceptable violence is violence by the occupier.'”

Sadly, these TikTok users seem to totally ignore a point bin Laden blatantly made concerning Islam’s mission – one impacting upon them directly. He calls for all non-believers of Islam (those fighting in the cause of Satan) to become believers (those fighting in the cause of Allah) as al-Qaida’s mission (and, by the way, that of Hamas as well) is to subvert all other religions to it! While these people advise reading bin Laden’s letter, they failed to read it closely. They also have not read the Quran, which preaches only three choices for non-believers: 1) convert to Islam, 2) subvert their religions to Islam or 3) die!

In the aftermath of the praise for “Letter to America” posted by TikTokers, former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, who killed bin Laden in 2011 during a daring raid into the compound in Pakistan where the terrorist was hiding, made an appropriate observation about these American mental lightweights: “Deceit is a mask the Devil puts over the eyes of useful idiots.”

These young people need to read the comments of a 9/11 rescuer, still plagued with nightmares years later, who was queried about the victims jumping from the buildings:

“Although no one will ever know how these innocent civilians felt contemplating their choice of jumping (off the World Trade Center buildings) or burning to death, one can only imagine that it must have been a horrendous decision to make. I can share with you that some of the people seemed to simply fall from the towers as they were backing away from the flames that engulfed the area behind them. Others made a deliberate decision to jump out of the building to escape the horrors they were eventually going to face. There were others who would hold hands with another person and simply jump. I witnessed one group of 4 or 5 people holding hands as they fell to their deaths. Although I can’t imagine the thought process that went through their minds when they were forced to make this choice or what they were thinking during the time they were falling, but I can assure you that they died immediately on impact and did not suffer. …”

Whether it is Americans supporting bin Laden’s justifications or those of Hamas, it appears we will always be plagued by useful idiots. What is difficult to understand, however, is whether their motivation stems from ignorance, stupidity or, worse yet, an honest belief that acts of murder by terrorists can ultimately be justified.

If only such people could have been present during the early morning hours either in New York City’s World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, or in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. For those who willingly ingest an ideological poison, the only anecdote is a strong dose of reality.

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