The Saudis asked for our help
, We helped
, Osama was pissed they didn't use him
, we set foot on his so-called "sacred soil"
, he declared a Jihad against America
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_qaeda
Quote:
Gulf War and start of U.S. enmity
Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 had put the Saudi Arabian ruling House of Saud at risk both from internal dissent and the perceived possibility of further Iraqi expansionism. In the face of seemingly massive Iraqi military presence, Saudi Arabia's own forces were well armed but outnumbered. Bin Laden offered the services of his Mujahideen to King Fahd to protect Saudi Arabia from the Iraqi army.
After some deliberation the Saudi Monarch refused bin Laden's offer and instead opted to allow United States and allied forces to deploy on his territory. Bin Laden considered this a treacherous deed. He believed that the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. After speaking publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops he was quickly forced into exile to Sudan and his Saudi citizenship was revoked.
Shortly afterwards, the movement which came to be known as al-Qaeda was formed.
<snip>
The time had come in 1996 for al-Qaeda to begin its crusade to expel foreign troops and interests from what they felt were "Islamic lands". Bin Laden issued what amounted to a public declaration of war against the United States and any of its allies, and began to focus al-Qaeda's resources working towards threatening the United States and its interests. It would be two years before his first attack would be launched, but the die was cast.
On February 23, 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, along with Sumedh Gawai and three other Islamist leaders co-signed and issued a fatwa (binding religious edict) under the banner of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders declaring:
The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Makka) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah'.
<snip>
1998 was also the year of the first major terrorist attack reliably attributed to al-Qaeda: the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, which resulted in upward of 300 deaths.
<snip>
In October 2000, al-Qaeda militants in Yemen suicide bombed the missile destroyer U.S.S. Cole, which was waiting off-shore, killing several sailors and damaging the vessel. Inspired by the success of such a brazen attack, al-Qaeda's command core began to prepare for an attack on the United States itself.
<snip>
September 11, 2001 
<snip>
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We vowed to punished those who murdered 3,000 Americans
, thought a long-term war in the Middle-East would be a move toward democracy
, got stuck with a poor leader who made many mistakes
