Criminology

Michael Chossudovsky insists Al Qaeda is a U.S. backed intelligence asset that had no involvement in the 911 terrorist attack in America and whose existence was in fact used by the Bush administration to launch and justify the military offense against Afghanistan and Iraq (Garduce, 2006). In my opinion, Al Qaeda staged the 911 attacks as retaliation for the perceived atrocities committed by the West against Muslims. To start with, Al Qaeda is a radical terrorist group that emphasizes religious ideologies that sees America as the enemy. The organization was influenced by various jihadist movements fueled by political, ethnic and Islamic conflicts across Central Asia. It is well-funded, vicious and highly trained in combat since its leader, Osama bin Laden along with other core members were seasoned war veterans (White, 2009). I also believe that the U.S.-Pakistani relations during the Russian-Afghanistan war gave rise to Al Qaeda. Although U.S. money funded these paramilitary groups, it was Pakistan that cradled Al Qaeda for its own agenda of securing certain areas of Afghanistan. To rectify this, Obamas new war strategy stipulates that Pakistan must fully commit to fight Al Qaeda and extremists in exchange for U.S. aid (Obama, 2009).

Other details such as the veracity of the 911 official report that based its account of events on mobile phone calls made by passengers onboard hijacked planes should also be given a second look, as some groups believe that such calls were not possible on high altitudes. Moreover, it is also interesting to note Chossudovskys assertion that these military campaigns were launched on areas rich in oil and gas reserves. In closing, I do think that U.S presence in these regions will assure America its supply of resources in the long run. And with the high cost of running wars, influential defense contractors are surely bound to make large profits at the expense of innocents and displaced civilians. And so the cycle of hate and terrorism repeats itself.