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Quote by Edward Said

“Speaking as a New Yorker, I found it a shocking and terrifying event [9/11], particularly the scale of it. At bottom, it was an implacable desire to do harm to innocent people. It was aimed at symbols: the World Trade Center, the heart of American capitalism, and the Pentagon, the headquarters of the American military establishment.”

Quote by Edward Said

Author

Edward Said was a distinguished American academic, cultural critic, and public intellectual. He served as a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and is widely recognized for his seminal work 'Orientalism', which critically examines the West's depiction of the East. Born on November 1, 1935, in Jerusalem, he passed away on September 24, 2003. more

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“[9/11] was not meant to be argued with. It wasn't part of any negotiation. No message was intended with it. It spoke for itself, which is unusual.”

Messages Spokes Meant To Be Unusual Negotiation Were Not Meant To Be

Author:Edward Said

“It [9/11] transcended the political and moved into the metaphysical. There was a kind of cosmic, demonic quality of mind at work here, which refused to have any interest in dialogue and political organization and persuasion. This was bloody-minded destruction for no other reason than to do it.”

Mind Kind Reason Political Interest Quality Destruction Organization Moved Dialogue Cosmic Bloody Persuasion Metaphysical Demonic

Author:Edward Said

“Note that there was no claim for these attacks [on 9/11]. There were no demands. There were no statements. It was a silent piece of terror.”

Pieces Demand Claims Notes Silent Terror Statements

Author:Edward Said

“This [terrorists attacks on 9/11] was part of nothing. It was a leap into another realm - the realm of crazy abstractions and mythological generalities, involving people who have hijacked Islam for their own purposes. It's important not to fall into that trap and to try to respond with a metaphysical retaliation of some sort.”

People Trying Important Purpose Fall Crazy Islam Terrorist Realms Leap Traps Metaphysical Abstraction Involving Generalities Retaliation

Author:Edward Said

“The just response to this terrible event [9/11] should be to go immediately to the world community, the United Nations. The rule of international law should be marshaled, but it's probably too late because the United States has never done that; it's always gone it alone.”

World Should States Done Law Nations Community United United States Gone Events Terrible Late Response International Too Late United Nations International Law Terrible Events

Author:Edward Said

“Osama bin Laden's organization has spun out from him and is now probably independent of him. There will be others who will appear and reappear. This is why we need a much more precise, a much more defined, a much more patiently constructed campaign, as well as one that surveys not just the terrorists' presence but the root causes of terrorism, which are ascertainable.”

Needs Wells Causes Roots Organization Independent Terrorism Campaigns Terrorist Defined Precise Bin Laden Surveys Osama Bin Laden Spun Root Cause

Author:Edward Said

“[Roots of terrorism] come out of a long dialectic of U.S. involvement in the affairs of the Islamic world, the oil-producing world, the Arab world, the Middle East - those areas that are considered to be essential to U.S. interests and security.”

World Long Interest Middle Security Essentials Areas Roots Affair Terrorism Oil East Islamic Middle East Involvement Arab World Dialectics

Author:Edward Said

“In the Islamic world, the U.S. is seen in two quite different ways. One view recognizes what an extraordinary country the U.S. is.The other view is of the official United States, the United States of armies and interventions. The United States that in 1953 overthrew the nationalist government of Mossadegh in Iran and brought back the shah. The United States that has been involved first in the Gulf War and then in the tremendously damaging sanctions against Iraqi civilians. The United States that is the supporter of Israel against the Palestinians.”

“If you live in the [Middle East] area, you see [U.S actions] as part of a continuing drive for dominance, and with it a kind of obduracy, a stubborn opposition to the wishes and desires and aspirations of the people there.”

People Ifs Kind Action Desire Wish Middle Areas East Aspiration Opposition Middle East Continuing Stubborn Dominance

Author:Edward Said

“It's very hard, for example, to justify the thirty-four-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It's very hard to justify 140 Israeli settlements and roughly 400,000 settlers. These actions were taken with the support and financing of the United States.”

Years Hard States Action United United States Support Taken Four Example West Thirty Justify Occupation Four Years Israeli Settlement Gaza Financing Settlers Israeli Settlements

Author:Edward Said