Sae Park

03/18/15
UWRT 1103
Research Summary

Bergen, Peter. "What Were the Causes of 9/11? | New America Archives."
What Were the Causes of 9/11? | New America Archives. New America Foundation, Sept.
2006. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
<http://newamerica.net/publications/articles/2006/what_were_the_causes_of_9_11>.

This article was created in order to shed some light upon the dark incident that occurred
five years before the time that the article was written, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The author of this article is Peter Bergen a representative of the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that focuses on issues regarding national security and the wellbeing of citizens and the economy. The premise or the reason for this article was that Bergen
believed everyone had their own theories that they came up with or ones that they heard and
believe in; however, they are believing them without consideration to other more possible and
reasonable theories. To separate the plausible ones from the credible ones, this article was made
to show both.
As a preface, Bergen pointed out a key fact that the terrorist attacks were independent
actions performed by al Qaeda and disproved any theories trying to target the Muslim people and
religion as culprits of the attack. He lists each plausible theories that created by politicians and
commentators and denies them with convincing and thorough supporting evidence. For example,
one of the theories for the attack was that the Middle East has a context of having a large amount
of impoverished communities and therefore committed the act due to rage directed towards

America being the most economic stable and prosperous nation. Just one simple fact disproved
the entire accusation. Those who attacked on 9/11 were sons of the Middle Eastern middle and
upper class, not the dispossessed. Throughout recent history, from the Russian anarchists to the
German Baader-Meinhof gang in the 1970s, terrorism has largely been a bourgeois endeavor. Al
Qaeda is no different. Further in the article, Bergen reveals the accepted and most credible
explanation being that the al Qaeda was the result of Bin Ladens imposition of his views.
This source is mainly for me to have a way of exposing the truth behind George Bushs
speech given on the night of the September 11 bombings. Without going too far into the details
of 9/11, the important portion is that I can demonstrate how George Bushs definition of justice
was used to brainwash the citizens of America to have them all point their fingers to the wrong
offenders of the case. On a micro level, the terrorists led by al Qaeda are to blame for taking the
lives of thousands of individuals who were not involved in the political tension going on between
the Middle East and the West. The larger picture, on the other hand, is not as straightforward. In
a different light, The United States can be seen as the real evil that provoked the actions. The
worth of justice is then questioned when good can be seen as evil and vice versa. In that sense,
good and evil, justice and injustice are in the gray zone in terms of measurability.