The Bin Laden Effect

The attacks on September 11, 2001 will likely never fade from our collective memory. It was the most devastating attack by a foreign adversary ever to take place on US soil, and a turning point in the way people with brown skin are treated in the US and world at large. This essay posits that these attacks absolutely would not have happened without Osama bin Laden funding them and pushing for their execution. This makes him one of the most important people in several decades (if not the most important) in terms of influencing the way that Muslims, and those presenting as Muslim are treated. This essay also examines the myriad effects of these attacks and by extension bin Laden’s effect on US foreign policy.