{"id":33043,"date":"2026-09-11T11:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T11:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33043"},"modified":"2026-09-11T11:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T11:25:09","slug":"osama-bin-laden-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33043","title":{"rendered":"Osama Bin Laden Won"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note__content\">\n<p><span class=\"has-underline\">President Donald Trump<\/span> has refused to attend the ceremony at Ground Zero marking the 25th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center \u2014 reportedly because he wanted to deliver a speech, and the annual event has long barred remarks by politicians. Trump, a native New Yorker who has often employed 9\/11 as a rhetorical device, will instead head to the Pentagon, which was also attacked that day, where he can rant, rave, bellow, and bemoan whatever he is worked up about. He may, in the process, also pay cursory tribute to the victims in an aside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recall the light of America\u2019s best and bravest and the love that they showed in their final moments,\u201d Trump\u00a0said during last year\u2019s 9\/11 remembrance at the Pentagon. That, however, was scripted pablum. It\u2019s far more illustrative to \u201crecall\u201d Trump\u2019s thoughts on the attack on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, when New Yorkers were united in grief. Well, most of them .<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street during a live <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PcKlPhFIE7w\">TV interview<\/a> that clear and cloudless afternoon, Trump took the opportunity to tout the increased standing that his building had just gained from the devastating terrorist attack. Trump made certain to note that his building \u201cactually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest.\u201d Like Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Trump then took his own 9\/11 victory lap. \u201cWhen they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second tallest,\u201d he observed of 40 Wall Street. \u201cAnd now it\u2019s the tallest.\u201d Like innumerable Trump statements in the 25 years since, it was callous and cringe-worthy and, of course, untrue. Nearby 70 Pine Street was actually taller.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-five years ago, I could not have imagined, as I watched the Twin Towers topple, that the New York real estate buffoon who used 9\/11 to aggrandize his property\u2019s height would become America\u2019s president. And if you told me Trump\u2019s supporters would attack the Capitol \u2014 something Al Qaeda tried and failed to do on 9\/11 \u2014 to subvert the democratic process, that the insurrection would fail but that Trump would still be reelected, I would have laughed. But that and so much else came to pass, as the danger posed by Trump surpassed Al Qaeda and every other foreign threat to America. Bin Laden is long gone, but his spiritual successor remains ensconced in the White House. The Al Qaeda leader couldn\u2019t have hoped for better.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Nick Turse, editor of TomDispatch<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(tipline)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22TIPLINE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%7D) --><!-- CONTENT(tipline)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"tipline-shortcode\">If you haven\u2019t yet, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/dispatch\/\">sign up to receive TomDispatch in your inbox here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- END-CONTENT(tipline)[0] --><!-- END-BLOCK(tipline)[0] -->\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2 id=\"h-how-two-trust-fund-terrorists-destroyed-america\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Two Trust-Fund Terrorists Destroyed America<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I can still remember the smell. But I\u2019m at a loss to accurately describe it to you. It wasn\u2019t the unmistakable odor of death, although that must have been some tiny part of it. It wasn\u2019t like burning tires or plastic or even metal. It was all that, but it was more. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the quarter century since, I\u2019ve been all over the world, but I\u2019ve never experienced anything like the smell near the rubble pile at Ground Zero in September 2001. The air was acrid and thick, a swirl of toxins and carcinogens made possible by turning two large, jet-fuel laden planes into cruise missiles and aiming them at gigantic office towers. As it burned, we all <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC1241968\/\">inhaled<\/a> a haze of pulverized cement, glass fibers, asbestos, lead, dioxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (better known as PCBs), and whatever else. It remains a part of us still.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 9\/11 attacks \u2014 which killed almost 3,000 Americans, toppled New York City\u2019s Twin Towers, wrecked the Pentagon, and took down a plane near Shanksville, Pennsylvania \u2014 marked the most devastating intelligence failure in U.S. history and sent the United States into a paroxysm of <a href=\"http:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/the-911-wars\/\">self-induced catastrophes<\/a> from which it has never emerged. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden\u2019s spectacular coordinated assault supercharged what had been a slow-motion <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2017\/07\/22\/donald-trump-and-the-coming-fall-of-american-empire\/\">imperial decline<\/a>, trapping the U.S. in a death spiral of ruinous intertwined economic debacles, foreign policy failures, democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and debilitating wars and military interventions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bin Laden\u2019s plan was to trap the U.S. in expensive, foreign quagmire wars that would trigger a domestic economic collapse. It was patterned on the strategy that the local mujahideen, he and other foreign fighters, and the U.S. and its allies had used to defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n    <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/the-911-wars\/\"><br \/><span class=\"promote-banner__image\"><br \/><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?fit=300%2C150\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=2000 2000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=1000 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/>        <\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a><br \/><\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not only does bin Laden\u2019s strategy continue apace long after his <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2015\/09\/09\/makers-zero-dark-thirty-seduced-cia-tequila-fake-earrings\/\">2011 death<\/a>, but it also spawned an even more effective means of destroying America from within. Bin Laden\u2019s attacks turned the U.S. government into an engine for the destruction of America, inducing it to implement policies that have devastated the country and immiserated its people. That includes <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/22\/ndaa-defense-bill-pentagon-israel-massie\/\">unrestrained spending<\/a> while cutting taxes on the rich, closer ties with despotic regimes, the sneak-and-peek warrants and roving wiretaps of the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/08\/13\/reign-of-terror-spencer-ackerman-september-11\/\">Patriot Act<\/a> and other domestic surveillance programs, and the ruinous <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/the-911-wars\/\">failed forever wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This swirl of toxic policies and governmental overreach opened the door to something beyond bin Laden\u2019s wildest dreams, the rise of an even more effective terrorist who has crippled the U.S. in countless ways and sought to strangle the best of the country: President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default\">\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?fit=2664%2C1981\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=2664 2664w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26253607570318_31913a.jpg?w=2400 2400w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)\" alt=\"\" width=\"2664\" height=\"1981\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n      <span class=\"photo__caption\">Hijackers crashed planes into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City.<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"photo__credit\"><br \/>Photo: zz\/Larry Le Vine\/STAR MAX\/IPx via AP Images<\/span>    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"has-underline\">The so-called Pearl Harbor<\/span> of the 21st century <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/09\/04\/911-justice-department-terrorists-accountability\/\">was no surprise<\/a>. Long before President George W. Bush, while vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, received a classified intelligence memo titled \u201cBin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S,\u201d the Al Qaeda leader had been honest about his plans. \u201cThe call to wage war against America was made because America has spear-headed the crusade against the Islamic nation,\u201d he announced in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/shows\/binladen\/who\/interview.html\">1998 TV interview<\/a>, castigating the U.S. for stationing troops in the Middle East and its support of Israel. \u201cThe Western regimes and the government of the United States of America bear the blame for what might happen. If their people do not wish to be harmed inside their very own countries, they should seek to elect governments that are truly representative of them and that can protect their interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When bin Laden made good on his threats, slaughtering thousands on 9\/11, he knew it was bound to trigger a response. One possibility was a measured law-enforcement action that would end with arrests and legitimate legal proceedings. The other was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zi2SNFnfMjk\">president standing on a rubble pile<\/a>, vowing revenge, a never-ending fruitless war against a tactic (terror), a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/12\/11\/we-tortured-some-folks-the-reports-daniel-jones-on-the-ongoing-fight-to-hold-the-cia-accountable\/\">secret torture gulag<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/ghosts-of-guantanamo\/\">forever prison<\/a>, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/01\/29\/guantanamo-9-11-forever-trials\/\">kangaroo court<\/a>. One would be ruinous for bin Laden. The other, an answer to his prayers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bin Laden\u2019s masterstroke was to attack the U.S. after it had elected a lightweight nepo-baby president and a power-mad vice president who had cut his teeth in Richard Nixon\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1mR52nX4WRWDpPmkJqA7eL2_h1TeeQZ3AhqVLJlnmnJo\/edit#gid=0\">criminal-packed White House<\/a>. While he came to be an enemy of Donald Trump, it was Dick Cheney who paved the way for America\u2019s current would-be tyrant, with the vice president\u2019s relentless campaign to concentrate power in the White House, creating an <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/imperialpresiden0000unse\">imperial presidency<\/a> predicated on the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/USA\/Justice\/2026\/0614\/supreme-court-unitary-executive-theory\">unitary executive theory<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0a misbegotten notion that the Constitution grants the president unrestrained authority over domestic and foreign policy, such as unilaterally removing government officials and waging wars.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cA lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2018\/12\/22\/vice-movie-review-dick-cheney\/\">both style and substance<\/a>, Cheney prefigured Trump. In the immediate wake of 9\/11, Cheney went on TV to announce the government would now operate on the\u00a0\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/darkside\/themes\/darkside.html\">dark side<\/a>,\u201d as he put it, claiming \u201ca lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">America has never emerged from those sinister shadows. Cheney was arguably the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/11\/04\/dick-cheney-death-iraq-war\/\">leading cheerleader for the ruinous war on terror<\/a>, which began in Afghanistan, spread across the globe, and grinds on a year after his death; a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/03\/15\/iraq-war-where-are-they-now\/\">prime architect<\/a> of the disastrous Iraq War and the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/10\/18\/colin-powell-dead-iraq\/\">faulty, unverified<\/a>, and cherry-picked intelligence that underpinned it; an enthusiastic supporter of torture, calling the waterboarding of detainees \u201ca no-brainer\u201d; a vocal supporter of domestic surveillance; a promoter of undemocratic, unprecedented, and unparalleled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcfp.org\/journals\/the-news-media-and-the-law-summer-2007\/cheney-and-secrecy\/\">secrecy<\/a>; and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2010\/04\/cheney-proud-of-telling-off-leahy-036265\">belligerent bully<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn our nation\u2019s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,\u201d Cheney said in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/08\/04\/dick-cheney-trump-coward-ad-00049944\">2022 ad<\/a>\u00a0for his daughter, Liz, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump at the end of his first term. He might have been right \u2014 and he was certainly responsible. Trump has built on Cheney\u2019s accomplishments and pushed America toward autocracy at an unprecedented rate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/series\/american-mythology\/\">weakening American democracy<\/a> during his first term, Trump launched a full-scale assault \u2014 literally \u2014 on it. Despite knowing he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2022\/10\/14\/trump-knew-he-lost-jan-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lost the 2020 presidential election<\/a>, Trump refused to concede, worked to subvert vote counts and undermine the certification process, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/08\/17\/trump-indictment-georgia-election\/\">pressured state officials<\/a> to \u201cfind\u201d votes, and orchestrated what special counsel Jack Smith\u2019s final report on it called an \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/us-justice-dept-releases-report-trump-attempt-overturn-2020-election-2025-01-14\/\">unprecedented criminal effort<\/a>\u201d to remain in power.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Trump has built on Cheney\u2019s accomplishments and pushed America toward autocracy at an unprecedented rate.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bin Laden was never able to raise an army in America, lead an insurrection, and launch an attack on the U.S. Capitol. (The plane meant to carry out that attack on 9\/11 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/places\/the-target.htm\">crashed<\/a> in rural Pennsylvania.) But on January 6, 2021, with Trump\u2019s encouragement, his supporters stormed the Capitol. The House Select Committee that investigated the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/committee-report\/117th-congress\/house-report\/692\/1\">domestic terrorist attack<\/a> upon the United States Capitol Complex and issues relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power\u201d concluded that Trump engaged in a\u00a0\u201cmulti-part conspiracy to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/GPO-J6-REPORT\/pdf\/GPO-J6-REPORT-1-6.pdf\">overturn the lawful results<\/a> of the 2020 Presidential election.\u201d It found that Trump, for hours, deliberately failed to act to stop his followers from attacking the Capitol. Smith said that the evidence gathered by his team \u201cwas sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,\u201d had the American people not reelected Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bin Laden would have no doubt cheered the attack on the Capitol and endorsed Trump\u2019s reelection run, had he been alive. And he would not have been disappointed by the results. Upon returning to office, Trump unleashed a coordinated assault on American democracy, undermining the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/04\/08\/trump-big-law-firms-paul-weiss-courts\/\">rule of law<\/a> and fundamental freedoms by pardoning and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/05\/19\/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-jan-6\/\">rewarding<\/a> insurrectionists; <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/03\/antifa-prairieland-protests-terrorism-conspiracy\/\">weaponizing<\/a> the Justice Department, regulatory agencies, and the military <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/29\/trump-military-deployments-cities-cost\/\">against American citizens<\/a>; firing government watchdogs; <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/30\/washington-post-hannah-natanson-fbi-biometrics-unlock-phone\/\">attacking<\/a> the free press; engaging in naked and unrestrained corruption, such as violating the Constitution\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/11\/09\/trump-corruption-graft\/\">emoluments clause<\/a>; engaging in due process violations, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/24\/trump-ice-deaths-mass-deportation\/\">immigration lawlessness<\/a>, and unconstitutional executive power-grabs; and launching a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/08\/25\/military-soldiers-wounded-casualties-iran-war\/\">disastrous war with Iran<\/a> and a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/11\/17\/trump-boat-strikes-death-toll-caribbean-pacific\/\">murder-spree on the high seas<\/a> amid a host of other foreign and domestic policy fiascos. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since January 2025, there have been nearly 4,000 separate authoritarian acts by the Trump administration including around 1,050 undermining democracy, more than 940 suppressing dissent, over 650 aggressive or destabilizing foreign policy efforts, about 600 acts weakening civil rights, around 500 centered around controlling information or spreading misinformation, and more than 320 acts of corruption, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trumpactiontracker.info\/\">Trump Action Tracker<\/a>, which documents acts and statements of Trump and his administration that echo those of other authoritarian regimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A startling global <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/13510347.2026.2661683#d1e502\">analysis<\/a> also discovered \u201cautocratization\u201d in America rose at a speed \u201cunprecedented in modern history\u201d last year. Under Trump, the researchers found, the U.S. has ceased to be a functioning liberal democracy after the largest one-year drop in democratic principles in American history. This took the country back to 1965 levels, when Jim Crow racial discrimination in voting\u00a0\u2014 including violence and intimidation, poll taxes, and literacy tests \u2014 were still commonplace. These results are bolstered by <a href=\"https:\/\/protectdemocracy.org\/threat-tracker\/#threat-tracker-footer\">research<\/a> by the nonprofit group Protect Democracy, which finds that the corrupting of elections, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/chilling-dissent\/\">quashing of dissent<\/a>, spreading of disinformation, and aggrandizing of executive power are all \u201cescalating\u201d in Trump\u2019s second term, while both authoritarian actions and the politicizing of independent institutions in the U.S. are \u201crapidly escalating.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n    <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/tomdispatch\"><br \/><span class=\"promote-banner__image\"><br \/><img width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?fit=300%2C150\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?w=500 500w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?w=300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/>        <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"promote-banner__text\">\n<p class=\"promote-banner__eyebrow\">\n            Read Our Complete Coverage          <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><br \/><\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"has-underline\">In 2001,<\/span> the U.S. government recorded a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crfb.org\/papers\/riches-rags-causes-fiscal-deterioration-2001\">budget surplus of about $128 billion<\/a> and was projected to pay off the national debt by 2009.\u00a0But after miring the U.S. in forever wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/03\/07\/pentagon-somalia-africa-terrorism-failure\/\">Somalia<\/a>, and elsewhere, bin Laden looked upon the fruits of 9\/11 and took a victory lap in 2004, bragging that his strategy of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2004\/11\/1\/full-transcript-of-bin-ladins-speech\">bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy<\/a>\u201d had helped to push the U.S. deficit to \u201cmore than a trillion dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note,\u201d bin Laden announced. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He could not have imagined just how closely and how long America\u2019s leaders would hue to his plan, conducting commando raids, drone strikes, armed interventions, and outright wars in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, and elsewhere. Nor could Al Qaeda\u2019s leader have foreseen how deep into financial ruin the U.S. would sink as a result.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bin Laden\u2019s 2004 trillion-dollar boast wasn\u2019t actually accurate. The U.S. federal deficit was <em>just<\/em> $413 billion in 2004. But it wouldn\u2019t remain that low for long. America\u2019s post-9\/11 wars have now cost or caused long-term obligations to taxpayers of an <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/09\/01\/war-on-terror-deaths-cost\/\">astonishing\u00a0$8 trillion<\/a>, according to a 2021 analysis by Brown University\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/costsofwar.watson.brown.edu\/costs\/economic\/us-federal-budget\">Costs of War Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Trump has continued to expand America\u2019s ruinous foreign interventions from Ecuador to <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/targeting-iran\/\">Iran<\/a>. An <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/30\/trump-secret-wars\/\">Intercept analysis<\/a> found that Trump has presided over more than 20 armed conflicts and wars during his two terms in office. And the costs continue adding up. Linda Bilmes, a former assistant secretary and chief financial officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce and currently a public policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, previously told The Intercept that the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/19\/pentagon-budget-iran-war-hegseth\/\">excessive expenses<\/a>\u00a0of the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/11\/trump-iran-war-claims-failures\/\">Iran war<\/a>, alone, would likely reach into the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/17\/trump-iran-war-cost\/\">trillions of dollars<\/a>. And Trump is also currently pushing for a post-World War II record\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HASCDemocrats\/videos\/we-cannot-afford-a-16-trillion-defense-budget-we-just-cant-house-armed-services-\/1529997741998229\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$1.6 trillion<\/a>\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/22\/ndaa-defense-bill-pentagon-israel-massie\/\">budget<\/a>\u00a0for next year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default alignright\">\n<div class=\"photo__container\">\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9781645030638.webp?fit=600%2C930\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9781645030638.webp?w=600 600w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9781645030638.webp?w=194 194w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9781645030638.webp?w=540 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"930\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n      <span class=\"photo__caption\">\u201cThe Trillion Dollar War Machine,\u201d by William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"photo__credit\">Available at <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/the-trillion-dollar-war-machine-how-runaway-military-spending-drives-america-into-foreign-wars-and-bankrupts-us-at-home-ben-freeman\/e7d4a2e1b1867765?ean=9781645030638&amp;bkshp-astro=t\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/the-trillion-dollar-war-machine-how-runaway-military-spending-drives-america-into-foreign-wars-and-bankrupts-us-at-home-ben-freeman\/e7d4a2e1b1867765?ean=9781645030638&amp;bkshp-astro=t\">Bookshop.org<\/a>.<\/span>    <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In case you hadn\u2019t guessed, the pre-9\/11 projection that the national debt would be paid off in 2009 never came to pass. Instead, the Bush and Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2026-09-01\/u-s-national-debt-has-reached-40-trillion-should-you-care\">presidencies<\/a> were marked by massive tax cuts that mostly benefited corporations and the wealthiest Americans, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crfb.org\/blogs\/whats-one-big-beautiful-bill-act\">depriving the Treasury<\/a> of almost $10 trillion in expected revenue. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So after bin Laden\u2019s attack; the forever wars of Bush, Barack Obama, Trump, and Joe Biden; and Trump\u2019s contributions in disastrous conflicts and gross fiscal mismanagement, the $5.8 trillion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/IN12045\">national debt of 2001<\/a> has now ballooned by 590 percent to a staggering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/how-did-u-s-debt-hit-40-trillion-heres-what-to-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$40 trillion<\/a>. That\u2019s $1 million, 40 million times over. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/articles\/the-national-debt-hit-40-trillion-but-its-not-an-issue-in-the-midterms\">50 percent of the debt<\/a> has been accrued since Donald Trump was first elected.\u00a0This week, Trump pledged to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress in November, which would cost more than $1 trillion. And that $128 billion budget surplus from 2001? It\u2019s been replaced by a projected federal budget deficit for this fiscal year of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/publication\/61983\">$2.1 trillion<\/a>. This debt and deficit spiral is also occurring during a time of near-full employment when the government\u2019s finances should actually be improving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If bin Laden made it to paradise, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/bin-laden-documents-released-family-letters-talk-of-meeting-wife-in-paradise-and-not-trusting-iranians-10265191.html\">as was his hope<\/a>, he is no doubt smiling as the Trump administration dismisses the ballooning debt and the president peddles nonsensical <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/atrupar\/status\/2090963272438628863?s=20\">claims<\/a> that \u201cgrowth will take care of that very easily.\u201d The U.S. will actually spend more than $1 trillion this year just paying interest on the debt. The Peterson Foundation\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pgpf.org\/programs-and-projects\/fiscal-policy\/monthly-interest-tracker-national-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">projects<\/a>\u00a0that total interest payments will more than double over the next decade \u2014 and that may be an undercount. And even if the debt remained steady at $40 trillion and the United States were to pay down $1 million per day, it would take almost 110,000 years to pay it off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All this debt is also likely to keep interest rates high, raising the cost of mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and small business credit, hurting ordinary Americans. High deficits and debt  \u2014 particularly if coupled with high inflation or interest rates \u2014 make it harder for the government to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanactionforum.org\/insight\/examining-the-consequences-of-a-high-and-rising-national-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">respond to crises<\/a> like a recession, depression, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/03\/27\/coronavirus-stimulus-package-spending\/\">pandemic<\/a>, or other emergency. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then there is the weakened safety net that comes from deficits and debt. Bin Laden doesn\u2019t need to worry about his golden years, and Trump is living them right now at taxpayer expense. But in 2032 \u2014 just six years from now \u2014 the Social Security trust fund is on track to go bust, to take one example of shortfalls on the horizon. By law, when the <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/KVAS3#selection-493.2-493.149\">trust fund hits zero<\/a>, all retirees\u2019 benefits are mandated to drop by more than 20 percent.<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-embed flex-col items-center print:hidden\" id=\"third-party--article-mid\" data-module=\"InlineNewsletter\" data-module-source=\"web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\">\n<div class=\"-mx-5 sm:-mx-10 p-5 sm:px-10 xl:-ml-5 lg:mr-0 xl:px-5 bg-accentLight hidden\" data-name=\"subscribed\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-light uppercase text-[30px] leading-8 text-white tracking-[0.01em] mb-0\">\n      We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us.    <\/h2>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=523200&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2026%2F09%2F11%2Fbin-laden-september-11-trump-america%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" class=\"border border-white !text-white font-mono uppercase p-5 inline-flex items-center gap-3 hover:bg-white hover:!text-accentLight focus:bg-white focus:!text-accentLight\" data-name=\"donateCTA\" data-action=\"handleDonate\"><br \/>\n      Become a member      <span class=\"font-icons icon-TI_Arrow_02_Right\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n<div class=\"group default w-full px-5 hidden\" data-name=\"unsubscribed\">\n<div class=\"px-5 border-[10px] border-accentLight\">\n<div class=\"bg-white -my-2.5 relative block px-4 md:px-5\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-body text-[30px] font-bold tracking-[0.01em] leading-8 mb-0 xl:text-[37px] xl:leading-[39px]\">\n          <span class=\"group-[.subscribed]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Join Our Newsletter          <\/span><br \/>\n          <span class=\"group-[.default]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Thank You For Joining!          <\/span><br \/>\n        <\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-[27px] mb-3.5 font-bold text-accentLight tracking-[0.01em] leading-[29px] font-sans xl:text-[37px] xl:leading-[39px]\">\n          <span class=\"group-[.subscribed]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Original reporting. 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Delivered to you.          <\/span><br \/>\n          <span class=\"group-[.default]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?          <\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=523200&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2026%2F09%2F11%2Fbin-laden-september-11-trump-america%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" class=\"group-[.default]:hidden border border-accentLight text-accentLight font-sans px-5 py-3.5 inline-flex items-center gap-3 text-[20px] font-bold\" data-action=\"handleDonate\"><br \/>\n          Become a member          <span class=\"font-icons icon-TI_Arrow_02_Right\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"font-sans text-accentLight text-[10px] leading-[13px] text-balance [&amp;_a]:text-accentLight [&amp;_a]:font-bold [&amp;_a:hover]:underline group-[.subscribed]:hidden\">\n<p>By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/terms-use\/\">Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(newsletter)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"has-underline\">Looking back,<\/span> I\u2019ve come to think of the acrid odor of the collapsed Twin Towers as more than a m\u00e9lange of burning paper, glass, concrete, and around 70 carcinogens. It was, instead, a harbinger of something even darker than the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/history\/cases-and-criminals\/911-investigation\">nearly 3,000 Americans<\/a> who died on 9\/11 \u2014 a long road of death and destruction stretching out into the future, beyond the vanishing point.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even Bin Laden couldn\u2019t have imagined long-term lethality of his attacks. Close to 9,700 first responders, survivors, and those who helped to clear nearly 1.8 million tons of debris at the World Trade Center have died of illnesses\u00a0tied to 9\/11, according to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. And more than 57,000 first responders and others have been diagnosed with 9\/11-linked cancers. Around 155,000 people have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides care and health monitoring to people who were exposed to toxic air after 9\/11. And an estimated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/wtc\/exhibition\/toxins-and-health-impacts.html\">400,000 people were exposed<\/a> to toxic contaminants, the risk of physical injury, and physically and emotionally stressful conditions in the days, weeks, and months following the attacks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vengeful war on the world that bin Laden managed to provoke has proved even more devastating than the effects of the toxic stew we inhaled near Ground Zero. An estimated 940,000\u00a0people were <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/09\/01\/war-on-terror-deaths-cost\/\">killed by direct post-9\/11 war violence<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/05\/17\/kabul-drone-strike-survivor-payment\/\">Afghanistan<\/a>, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere between 2001 and 2023, alone. Another <a href=\"https:\/\/watson.brown.edu\/costsofwar\/papers\/2023\/IndirectDeaths\">3.6 to 3.8 million<\/a>\u00a0people are estimated to have died indirectly in post-9\/11 war zones, bringing the\u00a0toll to at least 4.5 million dead and counting. This quarter century of <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/10\/02\/trump-impeachment-civilian-casualties-war\/\">carnage<\/a> and all that it unleashed has left the U.S. hollowed out and rotting from within; a deterioration in every conceivable measure from economics to democratic ideals to the spiritual health of the nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bin Laden\u2019s bleed-until-bankruptcy plan\u00a0was designed to sink America\u2019s economy \u2014 and it continues to work to great effect. And by ushering in the presidencies of Donald Trump, bin Laden left the United States morally bankrupt, too. Twenty-five years after 9\/11, the country is a pale shadow of the superpower that emerged from World War II having been laid low not by the Soviet Union \u2014 the nuclear-armed power it long considered an existential threat \u2014 but by two trust-fund terrorists: the scions of a Saudi construction empire, and an outer borough New York City real estate developer, respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe wise man doesn\u2019t squander his security, wealth, and children for the sake of the liar in the White House,\u201d bin Laden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2004\/11\/1\/full-transcript-of-bin-ladins-speech\">said in 2004<\/a>, referring to Bush. He likely couldn\u2019t have imagined America choosing an <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/03\/19\/george-bush-iraq-lies-trump\/\">even more inveterate liar<\/a>, an even greater intellectual lightweight, and an even more ruinous president. A quarter century after 9\/11, it\u2019s clear that bin Laden won. But the victory was not his alone. And, in the end, his role in it turned out to be vanishingly small. Bush, Cheney, Obama, and Biden, as well as a raft of politicians, government functionaries, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/09\/08\/afghanistan-iraq-generals-soldiers-disciplined-911\/\">all who went along<\/a> with the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/09\/10\/september-11-america-response\/\">madness<\/a> unleashed by the attacks, played key roles in helping hobble the U.S. in the 25 years since the September 11. But it\u2019s been Trump, more than anyone else, who has made bin Laden\u2019s lofty 9\/11 dreams America\u2019s never-ending nightmare.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#Osama #Bin #Laden #Won<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump has ref&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}