Jeremy Scahill: How Osama bin Laden Led the US to Declare War on the World

Jeremy Scahill: How Osama bin Laden Led the US to Declare War on the World

Jeremy Scahill: How Osama bin Laden Led the US to Declare War on the World

Jeremy Scahill explains that Osama bin Laden is dead, but so are the hundreds of thousands of victims of the US War on Terror

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

On Democracy Now! this morning, The Nation‘s Jeremy Scahill explains that Osama bin Laden’s killing in Pakistan yesterday is not necessarily a cause for celebration: the United States used the man who launched the September 11 attacks on America as a reason to "declare war on the world," Scahill says. In response to September 11, "Iraq was invaded, a country that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda, nothing to do with bin Laden. The United States created an Al Qaeda presence in Iraq by invading it, made Iran a far more influential force in Iraq than it ever would have been. We have given a grand motivation to people around the world that want to do harm to Americans in our killing of civilians, our waging of war against countries that have no connection to Al Qaeda and by staying in these countries long after the mission was accomplished… This is a somber day, when we should be remembering all of the victims: the three thousand who died in the United States and then the hundreds of thousands that died afterward."

Click here for more from The Nation on Osama bin Laden and the US war on terror.

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x