Re-Interrogating 9/11: A 25th Anniversary Debate

To commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Aimen and Thomas take a deeper, wider look at the historical, ideological, and geopolitical context on either side of that momentous world-changing event.

They discuss:

• Was 9/11 an ending as well as a beginning? Al-Qaeda’s attacks as the culmination of decades of revolution, failed political projects and Cold War conflict.
• The myth of the peaceful 1990s: a decade remembered for Western optimism but experienced elsewhere through war, state collapse and economic upheaval.
• America inherited a geopolitical mess: the Soviet collapse created opportunities for US dominance—and left behind dependent regimes, armed movements and unresolved conflicts.
• America as a revolutionary power: how US opposition to European imperialism and willingness to work with radical movements complicate its image as the defender of established order.
• Could preserving Middle Eastern monarchies have prevented later disasters? Aimen’s provocative counterfactual about revolution, state-building and the road to 9/11.
• Al-Qaeda and liberal globalisation: enemies with something in common? Their very different challenges to national sovereignty and visions of a world transcending borders.
• Jihadism amid the wreckage of earlier promises: how disappointed hopes for national liberation, Arab unity and socialism shaped the world in which al-Qaeda emerged.
• Was the War on Terror a rupture or an acceleration? Older American objectives pursued with new urgency, alongside an expansion of surveillance and state power.
• Bin Laden’s selective use of history: how an analogy with medieval siege warfare became a justification for killing civilians on 9/11.
• History without a puppet master: why examining competing ambitions and unintended consequences can leave us less certain about who controls events—and what sensible policy requires.

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.

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