For all of those that were not well educated about the longest war in American history, this will help you understand one of the major aspects as to why the al-Qaeda felt the need to attack us:

Quick vocabulary lesson before you read:

Fatwa- rules regarding Islamic law based on Koran
Mujahideen- the “freedom fighters” of the 1980s who fought against the soviets (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH PRESENT DAY TALIBAN)
Abu Hajer- co founder of al-Qaeda

“A new vision of al-Qaeda was born. Abu Hajer’s two fatwas, the first authorizing the attacks on American troops, and the second, the murder of innocents, turned al-Qaeda into a global terrorist organization. Al-Qaeda would concen- trate not on fighting armies but on killing civilians. The former conception of all-Qaeda as a mobile army of muja- hideen that would defend Muslim lands wherever they were threatened was now cast aside in favor of a policy of per- manent subversion of the West. The Soviet Union was dead and communism no longer menaced the margins of the Is- lamic world. America was the only power capable of blocking the restoration of the ancient Islamic caliphate, and it would have to be confronted and defeated.”

— The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright



The rest of the story is one that people of my generation may never fully understand but would change American lives forever.