[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20334-20335]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      IN RECOGNITION OF MATA BURKE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE ROGERS

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2004

  Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, on Sept. 11, 2004, teens from 
around the Third District gathered the campus of Jacksonville State 
University to remember the events of 
9/11, and to reflect on the impact of those events on their life today.
  One of the speakers that day was Mata Burke, an eleventh grade 
student at the Donoho School in Anniston. In honor of Mata's words and 
in recognition of her gift for writing, I am placing her entire speech 
in the Congressional Record so that others may have the opportunity to 
hear her thoughts about that fateful day.
  The text of her speech is as follows. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the 
House's attention to this important matter on this important day.

                        ``Who did this to us?''

                            (By Mata Burke)

       ``Now, as we are looking back and remembering the events of 
     that day, it's hard to believe that three years have already 
     gone by since it happened. The memory is still fresh in our 
     minds, and perhaps, that is due to the fact that it's changed 
     our everyday lives even now; whether it be by new security 
     measures, constant bomb threats, or rising terror alerts. 
     However, there is one thing that many people do tend to 
     forget when remembering that day . . . and that is, ``why did 
     it happen?'' ``What were the motives?'' and ``who exactly was 
     involved?''
       Most everyone knows that the September 11th attacks were 
     directly linked to Al Qa'ida and Osama bin Laden. But many 
     may not know what exactly Al Qai'da is and who Osama bin 
     Laden is.
       There are many people who think that the terrorists who 
     attacked on September 11th were simply evil people who hated 
     everything America and freedom stand for. But this is a 
     generalization that overlooks many of the true motives behind 
     the attacks. To really understand why these attacks happened, 
     we must look into the past at the beginnings of Al Qai'da and 
     at previous terrorist attacks across the world.
       Al Qa'ida is an international terrorist network that was 
     founded and led by Osama bin Laden. Al-Qa'ida first began to 
     take shape after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It 
     was at that time that bin Laden and a Palestinian religious 
     scholar, Abdullah Azzam, began recruiting, training, and 
     financing thousands of mujahedeen, or holy warriors, from 
     more than 50 different countries. Although they were 
     originally fighting to rid Afghanistan of the Soviet 
     invaders, bin Laden urged these holy warriors to continue 
     their fight beyond Afghanistan. And thus, in 1988, he 
     officially founded the terrorist group known as Al-Qa'ida, a 
     name that is now familiar to people across the world.
       Currently, there is not a specific place from which Al-
     Qai'da operates. Previous

[[Page 20335]]

     headquarters, such as Sudan and Afghanistan were removed by 
     force, and now, it is thought that leaders are trying to 
     regroup inside Pakistan, near the Afghan border. Still, it is 
     important to realize that Al-Qa'ida operatives are not just 
     located in the Middle East. They are spread throughout many 
     countries across the world; including Italy, France, Spain, 
     Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Despite 
     the distances that separate them, all of the members of this 
     terrorist organization share one major thing in common: Sunni 
     Muslim fundamentalist views. In essence, there are three main 
     objectives of the Al-Qa'ida Jihad, or holy war based on these 
     fundamentalist views. The first is to establish the complete 
     rule of God on Earth. Second is to attain martyrdom in the 
     cause of God, meaning to suffer and/or die in the hopes of 
     doing God's will. And lastly is to purify Islam and get rid 
     of what they see as moral corruption within their religion's 
     followers. By doing this, they hope to unite all pure Muslims 
     to live under one government. It is important to note that 
     their goal is not to convert all non-believers to Islam, but 
     rather they will not let the non-believers dominate, meaning 
     they won't let non-Muslims push Muslim heritage out.
       Even though Al-Qa'ida was originally formed to be a 
     religious fundamentalist group wishing to protect and purify 
     Islam, the motives for the terrorist attacks are not solely 
     religious. Although religion is a major part of it, and 
     indeed, has aided in the recruitment of terrorist group 
     members, other motives lie deep within the history of U.S. 
     involvement in the Middle East. In fact, Osama bin Laden, 
     along with other Al-Qa'ida leaders have made direct 
     statements explaining why they targeted the United States. 
     Most of these statements refer to U.S. foreign policy in the 
     Middle East; such as the stationing of U.S. troops in and 
     around holy sites, and especially the American support of 
     Israel. In October of 2001, Osama bin Laden made the 
     following statement: ``We swore that America wouldn't live in 
     security until we live it truly in Palestine. This showed the 
     reality of America, which puts Israel's interest above its 
     own people's interest. America won't get out of this crisis 
     until it gets out of the Arabian Peninsula, and until it 
     stops its support of Israel.'' A few years earlier, bin Laden 
     had made another statement describing the oppression he saw 
     of Muslims in Palestine: ``For over half a century, Muslims 
     in Palestine have been slaughtered and assaulted and robbed 
     of their honor and of their property. Their houses have been 
     blasted, their crops destroyed. And the strange thing is that 
     any act on their part to avenge themselves or to lift the 
     injustice befalling them causes great agitation in the United 
     Nations which hastens to call for an emergency meeting only 
     to convict the victim and to censure the wronged and the 
     tyrannized whose children have been killed and whose crops 
     have been destroyed and whose farms have been pulverized.'' 
     In these statements, bin Laden is clearly describing how he 
     feels Israeli attacks in Palestine have caused great 
     oppression of the Muslims living there. Thus, he sees the 
     United States' support of Israel as a direct threat to 
     Muslims and something he must retaliate against.
       Although the United States is being targeted by Al-Qa'ida, 
     it is only one of many different countries that the 
     terrorists have attacked to further their cause. Osama bin 
     Laden, maintains a strong grudge against Muslim countries in 
     the Middle East that have allowed western infiltration and 
     have begun buying into westernization. Countries such as 
     Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Malaysia are seen as 
     traitorous and abandoning their Muslim heritage.
       The September 11th attacks were not the first terrorist 
     acts against the United States. There have been many, many 
     attacks against Americans in countries all around the world. 
     There was an explosion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1995 that 
     killed four Americans. There was an explosion in Al-Khobar 
     that killed 19 Americans and wounded more than 400. There 
     were attacks in east Africa, the destruction of the U.S.S. 
     Cole, previous attempted World Trade Center bombings, and 
     many more. Still, the September 11th attacks set a new 
     standard. Never before had there been such a large scale 
     terrorist attack on civilians on U.S. land. And although I 
     have discussed with you the probable motives of the 
     terrorists, there can never be justification for the events 
     that occurred on 9/11.''

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