Thousands of Americans lost their loved ones on the tragic day of Sept. 11, 2001, when Islamic terrorists launched an attack on the World Trade Center.
The mastermind of this attack, Osama bin Laden, sacrificed many lives in his effort to unite Islamic jihadists around the world, the recently released insider account of his former personal assistant, Nasir al Wuhayshi, revealed.
Wuhayshi was killed by a drone strike launched by the United States in June last year. Before his death, he left a version of the story of the 9/11 terror attack, which was recently released by the group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
According to Wuhayshi's insider account as explained by The Long War Journal, jihadists like bin Laden really wanted to fight the "apostates" ruling over Muslims, or the "tyrants" holding power in Muslim-majority nations.
Citing prominent pro-al Qaeda ideologue Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, Wuhayshi said the "capability" to wage "combat" in Muslim-majority countries did "not exist yet" at that time.
The differences in opinion about the readiness to fight the "tyrants" caused division among jihadist groups.
Wanting to overcome this division, Wuhayshi said al Qaeda came up with the idea to fight "the more manifest infidel enemy"—which in this case was the United States—rather than "the crueler infidel enemy."
To al Qaeda's mind, launching an attack on the U.S. would not sow "discord and suspicion among the people." Bin Laden also thought the entire "Islamic movement" would stand with al Qaeda "against the infidels."
Bin Laden went ahead with his plan, targeting the Twin Towers. Wuhayshi said in his insider account that a "majority of the groups agreed to" the initiative, but some, like the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), opposed it—thus showing that bin Laden's idea of uniting jihadists through the 9/11 terror attack did not succeed.
Wuhayshi further affirmed in his version of the 9/11 story that his boss, bin Laden, plotted the terror attack against the U.S. together with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
He also said that the idea of suicide bombings as a form of martyrdom in Islam was started by Abdullah Azzam.
