Historical Context to 9/11/2001

Objectives

1. Understand the political contours of Egypt in the 1950’s

2. Understand how the Cold War shaped American and Soviet foreign policy towards the Middle East

1. Understand how the World Wars shaped the history of the Middle East

Ottoman Empire

A War to End All Wars

Gallipoli

Arab Resistance

Why did the Arabs resist the Ottoman Empire

The Mandate System

The Holocaust

Israel, 1948

Pan-Arab Nationalism vs. The Muslim Brotherhood

Nasser,1952

Came to power in the context of the Cold War. Aligned Egypt with the Soviet Union.

Wanted to defeat Israel.

Soviet Union

Dialectical Materialism

Atheism

Sayyid Qutb 1906-1966

Born in an Egyptian Village

Raised on the Koran

1929-1933 Educated in Cairo

1939 Official in Ministry of Education

1948 – 1950 Scholarship to the U.S.

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“The most important thing for these people is the tending of their gardens.”

“Arms circled waists, lips met lips, chests met chests, and the atmosphere was full of passion.”

"'Let them kill Nasser. What is Nasser but one among many? My fellow countrymen, stay where you are. I am not dead, I am alive, and even if I die all of you is Gamal Abd al-Nasser.'"

Imprisoned

Milestones

In the Shade of the Koran

Jahiliyyah (Preaching and Jihad)

Executed in 1966

Mohammed Qutb fled to Saudia Arabia

Nasser Fails to Defeat Israel

Nasser Dies in 1970

Anwar Sadat (Tried to work with the Muslim Brotherhood)

Ibn Saud gives U.S. Rites in 1933 (Standard Oil Co.) ¼ Planet’s Oil Reserves (ARAMCO)

Mohammed bin Laden (1908-1967)

An estimated $18 Billion in religious buildings alone

Married 22 times and sired 54 children

Was a devout Muslim

17th Child

Born in 1957

Osama Bin-Laden is introduced to the works of Sayyid Qutb through the preaching of Mohammad Qutb and other Islamic

preachers of Jihad

1988al-Qaeda = Base

Osama bin Laden—Returns a hero (humble, affable, quintessential hero)

Osama claims to have a dream about Saddam Hussein

Osama seeks an audience with King Fahd

Gulf War

Kenya and Tanzania Bombings