Why Did 9/11 Happen? Author Offers Thoughts

New York Times columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman, in his book Longtitudes & Attitudes, offers this thought: "September 11 happened because America had lost its deterrent capability. We lost it because for twenty years we never retaliated against, or brought to justice, those who murdered Americans. From the first suicide bombing of the U. S. Embassy in Beirut in April 1983, to the bombing of the Marine barracks at the Beirut airport a few months later, to the TWA hijacking, to the attack on U. S. troops at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, to the suicide bombings of two U. S. embassies in East Africa, to the attack on the U. S. S. Cole in Yemen, innocent Americans were killed and we did nothing. So our enemies took us less and less seriously and became more emboldened. Indeed, they became so emboldened that a group of individuals--think about that for a second: not a state but a group of individuals--attacked America in its own backyard. America's enemies smelled weakness all over us, and we paid a huge price for that."

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