Why they did it: the Letter to America

Al Qaeda’s statements, from 1996 to 2004, return to the same list: American forces in Saudi Arabia after 1991, the sanctions and bombing of Iraq in the 1990s, American support for Israel, and support for rulers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. [1][2]

The Commission accepted that these grievances were widely felt in the Muslim world and argued that the United States should take them seriously in its foreign policy. It did not accept them as justification: al Qaeda’s vision, it wrote, was of a war against the West and against Muslims who did not share it, and its targets were civilians. [3]

In mid-November 2023, during the war in Gaza, users on TikTok began posting videos reading from the 2002 letter and saying it made them question what they had been told about American foreign policy. Many linked to the Guardian, which had hosted the text since 2002. [1][3]

On 15 November the Guardian removed it, saying it had been widely shared on social media without its full context. TikTok removed videos promoting the letter and blocked the hashtag, saying they violated its rules against supporting terrorism. [2][1]

The clips mostly read the parts about Palestine and foreign policy. NBC News noted that the full letter “includes antisemitic language and homophobic rhetoric,” and the White House called it “repugnant, evil, and antisemitic lies.” Reading it whole, rather than in clips, is the fair way to judge it. [3][1]