![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Explosion_following_the_plane_impact_into_the_South_Tower_%2528WTC_2%2529_-_B6019~11.jpg/640px-Explosion_following_the_plane_impact_into_the_South_Tower_%2528WTC_2%2529_-_B6019~11.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Motives for the September 11 attacks
Al-Qaeda claims and arguments for attacking the United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Motives for the September 11 attacks?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers of the Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda. In the 1990s, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declared a militant jihad against the United States, and issued two fatawa in 1996 and 1998.[2] In the 1996 fatwa, he quoted the Sword Verse. In both of these fatawa, bin Laden sharply criticized the financial contributions of the American government to the Saudi royal family as well as American military intervention in the Arab world.[3]
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Explosion_following_the_plane_impact_into_the_South_Tower_%28WTC_2%29_-_B6019~11.jpg/640px-Explosion_following_the_plane_impact_into_the_South_Tower_%28WTC_2%29_-_B6019~11.jpg)
These motivations were published in bin Laden's November 2002 Letter to the American people,[4][5] in which he said that al-Qaeda's motives for the attacks included Western support for attacking Muslims in Somalia, supporting Russian atrocities against Muslims in Chechnya, supporting the Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir, condoning the 1982 massacres in Lebanon, the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia,[5][6][7] US support of Israel,[8][9] and sanctions against Iraq.[10] Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri asserted that Israeli repression of Palestinians during the Al-Aqsa Intifada was the immediate cause that forced Al-Qaeda to launch the September 11 attacks.[11][12][13]
Following the attacks, the Bush administration asserted that al-Qaeda attacked the United States because "they hate us for our freedoms". George W. Bush said in a speech to Congress nine days after the attacks that "They hate what we see right here in this chamber — a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms — our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."[14] Al-Qaeda leadership maintained that United States was targeted in retaliation for its imperialist aggression against the Muslim world. In a speech released in 2004, Osama Bin Laden stated: "free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush’s claim that we hate freedom. If so, then let him explain to us why we don’t strike for example – Sweden?"[15][16][17]