Stratfor Founder Said 9/11 Attack Designed to Draw U.S. into Combat
Stratfor Founder Said 9/11 Attack Designed to Draw U.S. into Combat Intelligence Expert Noted Jihadi Victory Over USSR As Watershed Event Addressing JINSA’s Board of Directors on November 14 2004, Dr. George Friedman, founder and chairman of Stratfor, the world’s leading privately held intelligence company, discussed al Qaeda’s origins and explained how that history ties to both the events of September 11 as well as the current war in Iraq. According to Friedman, the war in Iraq was born out of the Cold War. His conclusion comes mainly from the fact that the U.S. trained Islamic jihadists so that they could defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Up until this point an Islamic force had not fought and won a war. Afghanistan, however, was different. Friedman noted that the Afghan defeat was one of the more important reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Stratfor founder Dr. George Friedman addressed the JINSA Board of Directors, November 15, 2004. After the Afghan war, these jihadists were essentially abandoned and betrayed by their supporters including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Those states, among many others, did not want these fighters to come home after their impressive victory. Friedman compared fundamentalist fighters with American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. After the Vietnam War, soldiers that came home were bitter about the reception they received. One can only imagine the bitterness of an Islamic fighter not being allowed to return home after a war that they won, Friedman noted. From this crucible of rejection al Qaeda, was forged, Friedman declared.
The situation became worse when Iraq invaded Kuwait, which compelled the Saudi royal family to cooperate with the United States. Friedman explained that after seeing this cooperation, al Qaeda decided that it was time for some kind of uprising. In order to do this they needed to convince their fighters that this was their time in history to make a difference. In other words, Friedman said, al Qaeda’s leaders needed to give their followers hope. He pointed out that this was an important event since sending an army into battle without hope could likely lead to disaster.
Al Qaeda was extremely smart in deciding how to do this, Friedman said. They would plan an attack to elicit a response from the United States that would be beneficial to their cause. They knew that the United States would respond in one of two ways. If al Qaeda attacked and the United States did not respond with military force, it could prove that the United States was not a great power and that they were weaker than anticipated. The second response, however, would be even better. If the United States responded with a multi-front attack on Islamic terrorists in Muslim countries, al Qaeda could easily persuade their fighters that the United States was making war on all Muslims. For a while, al Qaeda attacks such as the first World Trade Center bombing, failed to get the United States to respond with great military force.
The attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, however, were designed to be so terrible, that the U.S. would not be able to decline combat, Friedman said. He pointed to al Qaeda’s mastery of covert operations and understanding of the American intelligence as reason for their success on September 11. Because of this success they helped draw America into an armed conflict with Iraq, a country with a Muslim majority, Friedman concluded.
Rapporteur’s summary by JINSA Editorial Assistant James Cetrone
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