Questions about the Iraq war and 9/11

[Draphoelix]

I'm a little lost here. Could someone give me a quick summary of the background of this war? How did it start, why did it start, what were the "key" incidents (like, the execution of Saddam Hussein), and what connection does the war of Iraq have with the invasion of Afghanistan?

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I can't distinguish the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq from each other. Is it the same war?
What were the reasons for the war(s)? I've heard about oil, 9/11, Saddam Hussein and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Alot of it are from my friends, but most of it seem to be theories, so I'm kind of confused.
And what are the differences between the organization al-Qaida and the Talibans?
Who were responsible for the 9/11 attack? I mean, how did they know it was al-Qaida?
Is it true that the Talibans are a creation of the CIA?

This is just for my personal education.
(I tried to look in the Wikipedia, but there were LOAD of it)

Also, the things he said in this video, is it true? (Most of the questions were taken from it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja8fJCW7nsc

 

[Vellu]

Who were responsible for the 9/11 attack? I mean, how did they know it was al-Qaida?

Well, al-Qaeda made a video where bin Laden tells they were behind it. But after so many conspiracy theories and that one document about 9/11, I'm not sure anymore that was al-Qaeda really behind that.

 

[Ioannes]

I hope you know where the this is located.

It all began on 9/11 when two airplanes hit the WTC towers. And another one allegedly hit the Pentagon.

The USA was shocked and soon the Bush administration found who the people responsible were - Osama bin Laden, son of a Saudi millionaire gone rogue and turned hardline Islamist, and his terrorist organization called Al-Qaeda. President Bush pledged to hunt them down.

As far as the USA knows, Bin Laden is located in Tora Bora - a region in the mountains of Afghanistan. So, in October 2001, they send the USMC to get in the country and find him. Also, the Bush administration received some intelligence that Saddam Hussein - the dictator of Iraq - had weapons of mass destruction and connections to Al Qaeda. Although this data was later proven false, it was a good enough reason for Bush to order another invasion - that of Iraq, which happened in 2003.

In both involvements, the USA beat their opponents - the Taliban forces and Saddam's army. But after the big action, both countries were ravaged and the USA and its NATO allies weren't doing a good enough job to put Iraq and Afghanistan back on their feet. Up to this day, we may argue. The years went on and there was much resentment and occasional armed attacks towards the US forces in those two countries.


>I can't distinguish the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq from each other. Is it the same war?

Two different countries.


>What were the reasons for the war(s)? I've heard about oil, 9/11, Saddam Hussein and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Alot of it are from my friends, but most of it seem to be theories, so I'm kind of confused.

Bin Laden was thought to be hiding in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein was thought to be a friend of Bin Laden's and also in possession of WMD's (weapons of mass descrutcion) that could hit the USA. Imagine big missiles with warheads falling and exploding in California or something. That's how it looked like.


>And what are the differences between the organization al-Qaida and the Talibans?

They are similar in the sense that they are both Islamist. Islamist means someone who is a very faithful Muslim and wants to enforce Islam in its strictest interpretations. So Al Qaeda and the Taliban are, in a way, friends, because they believe in similar things.

They are different because they came to be in different ways. The Taliban come from the Soviet-Afghan war, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan from the North in the 80's. The USA wanted to make life hard for their Cold-War communist enemy, the Soviets, so Ronald Reagan saw that there was an Islamic resistance against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. He gave them lots of weapons and training so that they would fight the Soviets well. These Islamic resistance fighters were called Taliban. The Taliban were various people and groups. Foreigners from all over the Middle East would join them. In 1988, in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and his friend, a doctor, founded Al Qaeda as a secret Islamist militant organization. They were foreigners, from Saudi Arabia. Osama was an Islamist like the Taliban and both guys were helping them. Unlike the Talibans, however, they thought that not only the Soviets were the enemy of Islam, but also the Americans. So, when the Soviets left and the Taliban kept ruling Afghanistan in the 90s, Al Qaeda plotted terrorist acts against the USA. The most spectacular of which is 9/11.

So the Taliban were freedom fighters and Al Qaeda was a special group of Taliban folks.


>Who were responsible for the 9/11 attack? I mean, how did they know it was al-Qaida?

Osama bin Laden shot a video tape in which he said Al Qaeda did it. Also, the CIA had records of the guys who hijacked the planes and those records showed connections to Al Qaeda. Once the towers were hit, Bin Laden was one of the suspects.


>Is it true that the Talibans are a creation of the CIA?
Oh, you betcha. Only NATO doesn't like to admit it. Reagan gave them tons of equipment. Without American RPG's, the Taliban would never have been able to shoot down Soviet helicopters. Probably, the Taliban would be like a bunch of peasants with Qurans. Reagan also sent CIA people to teach the Taliban to use radios, maps, and so on. All this was done so that the Taliban would fight the Soviets for him. You know Vietnam, with Charlies coming out of nowhere, shooting with AK-47's and terrorizing Americans and killing people every day? Well, it was like that for the Commies, only without the jungle. I'm not kidding.

So, thats how it is in brief. They really don't like our freedom.

 

[Wiseman_2]

Ioannes pretty well summed it up, but I'll add a few points regarding the Taliban. Osama Bin Laden, originally, was a member of the Taliban before the creation of Al Qaeda; though his role was relatively small - he was not involved in combat or command - but he did play a considerable part in helping acquire FIM-92 Stinger Missiles from the US.
In addition to Stinger missiles, the CIA also taught the Taliban how to construct car and vehicle bombs and supplied them with C4 explosives. Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan (which, incidently, has long been known as "the graveyard of empires"), the Taliban became the ruling political party. Following 9/11, the Bush administration drew the conclusion that Al Qaeda were being housed by the Taliban, hence the invasion.

War by proxy was quite common during the Cold War. During Vietnam, the Soviets supplied the Viet Cong, while in Afghanistan, the US supplied the Taliban. It damaged their enemy without risking all out war.