Kenneth Glad
A single violent event can easily shift the course of global history. The world changed overnight a quarter of a century ago, triggering decades of conflict and military action. Yet the mastermind behind it all never actually secured what he wanted.
Osama bin Laden waited inside a parked vehicle in Afghanistan. It was September 11. As shocked radio presenters detailed the attacks in New York and Washington, he simply listened.
Almost immediately, President George W. Bush launched a sprawling military response. According to The Guardian, this global campaign led to invasions and reshaped the entire Middle East.
Many people believe the terror leader planned this exact trap. The popular theory says he wanted to drag American troops into unwinnable wars to drain the country financially.
But historical evidence points the other way.
Missing the mark
The terror chief never actually expected a massive ground invasion. His team braced for retaliatory missile strikes, but they had absolutely no plan for thousands of arriving foreign soldiers.
His true strategy was much simpler. He wanted to bleed the American economy just enough to force foreign troops out of the Middle East.
That goal failed entirely. The United States stayed firmly planted in the region, and al-Qaida never pulled off another major attack on American soil.
Bin Laden also hoped to topple regional leaders he deeply hated, especially the Saudi royal family.
Losing the crowd
Dictators like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi did eventually fall. However, writes The Guardian, these regimes collapsed due to western actions or local rebels. Al-Qaida played no role.
The propaganda war also slipped out of his grasp.
Bin Laden designed the 2001 attacks to spark a massive global uprising. Instead, his group faced intense backlash from the Islamic world for killing countless innocent Muslims.
His successors eventually abandoned the dream of global revolution. They retreated into local conflicts.
Quiet on the edges
Today, the landscape of extremism looks entirely different.
Major terror networks have largely relocated to sub-Saharan Africa. They exploit local anarchy and resource shortages rather than plotting spectacular global strikes.
The era of the charismatic terror leader is over. American intelligence tracks high-profile targets too closely for anyone to safely lead a visible worldwide movement.
Al-Qaida still technically exists today. But simply surviving in the shadows is a long way from the grand victory its founder once imagined.
Sources: The Guardian
