State of America In a World Gone Crazy

Who are we? United States – We are a federal republic – We fought a war to free ourselves from control of another “superpower” – Our nation is an experiment in freedom – We remain as the only “superpower” left after the end of the Cold War

Who are we? United States – We have the largest national economy in the world – $16.7 trillion GDP (all goods/services produced in a nation in a year) 19% of the purchasing power in the world – 16% of our population lives in poverty

Who are we? United States – We spend 39% of world wide military spending – We are a cultural force – We are a “melting pot” of nationalities

Who are we?

Motives for attacks Somalia Early 1990s brought political change Government was replaced with “warlords” fighting for territory UN brought in peacekeepers to supply humanitarian supplies

Somalia “Blackhawk Down” Urban combat were 18 Americans were KIA 80 wounded and 1 captured Somali forces were trained by al-Qaeda (bin Laden) Motives for attacks

Chechnya US supported Russian attacks on Chechnya’s Islamic forces Russians fought Islamic forces topping with a hostage situation in 2004 – Ended with 334 victims (156 were children) – Many claim Russian forces were responsible Chechen rebel standing on a “Dead man Switch” in an elementary school hostage situation

Motives for attacks Kashmir US supports India’s conflicts in the area of Kashmir. This area is one of the “hot spots” of the world where Muslim civilians (backed by Pakistan) and Hindu civilians (backed by India)

Motives for attacks Gulf War ‘91 Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 Many nations in the Middle East were worried about Saddam’s decisions

Motives for attacks Gulf War ‘91 Saudi Arabia asked for US help in protecting its borders Bin Laden (with al- Qaeda) offered Muslims support to protect the holy lands Saudi Arabia declined for US military

Motives for attacks US Support of Israel Bin Laden viewed Israel with distain and wanted the US to stop supporting a nation that treated Muslims poorly

Motives for attacks Sanctions against Iraq Felt that the sanctions against Iraq were designed to hurt Muslims, not hurt the government

Osama bin Laden Leader of al-Qeada Extreme Muslim fundamentalist Issued 2 fatawas – "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places"

Osama bin Laden 2 nd fatawa – complains of American military presence in the Arabian Peninsula, and American support for Israel. It purports to provide religious authorization for indiscriminate killing of Americans and Jews everywhere.

Why the World Trade Center? Viewed as the finical heart of our nation Many civilians worked here, provided a lot of casualties

Why the Pentagon? Headquarters of our military services

Shanksville, PA Many believe that the target was the US Capital building Passengers aboard Flight 93 took control and forced the plane to crash in Shanksville, PA

8:46 AM American Airlines Flight 11 and crashed it into the North Tower, the aircraft striking between the 93rd and 99th floors. Killed 87 passengers/flight crew Unknown number upon impact at WTC

9:03 AM United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower, striking it between the 77th and 85th floors 60 passengers/crew 2,606 total innocent deaths at WTC

9:37 AM American Airlines Flight passengers/crew killed 125 Pentagon personnel

9:59 AM South Tower collapsed after burning for 56 minutes. The fire caused steel structural elements, already weakened from the plane impact, to fail.

10:03 AM United Flight passengers/crew killed

10:28 AM The North Tower after burning for approximately 102 minutes