Strategic Assessment

The unbounded hostility that led 19 suicide bombers to crash hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center on September 11, and brought millions of other Muslims to sympathize with and even rejoice at their actions, has forced many in the West to try to understand the sources of anti-Western hatred. What grievance, people ask, could possibly have justified the intentional murder of thousands of civilians? What resentment could lead people consciously to choose the path of “martyrdom,” to hate others more than they love life itself? The search for an explanation has invigorated the debate about the reasons for anti-Western terror committed or supported by Islamists.