THE COUNTRY IS CIRCLING THE DRAIN

EXCLUSIVEOne in five young Americans has a POSITIVE view of Osama Bin Laden: Disturbing Daily Mail poll results also reveal three in 10 Gen-Zers think the views of the 9/11 mastermind were a 'force for good'

Alarming poll results show some voters under 30 are sympathetic to Bin Laden. One in ten had a positive view of Hamas

 

By Wills Robinson  

 

Daily Mail

Dec 27, 2023

 

One in five young Americans have a positive view of Osama Bin Laden and three in 10 believe the views of the terrorist leader who slaughtered thousands of innocent people were a ‘force for good’, according to disturbing results of a DailyMail.com poll

 

One in five young Americans has a positive view of 9/11 mastermind and Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden, according to disturbing results of a DailyMail.com poll.

The alarming survey also found three in 10 Gen Z voters believe the views of the anti-Semitic terrorist leader who slaughtered thousands of innocent people were a ‘force for good'.

Family members of 9/11 victims said the findings are 'horrifying' and proof of a startling trend suggesting some in the younger generation are growing sympathetic to terrorists.

Another DailyMail.com poll in October found one in 10 voters under the age of 30 had a positive view of Hamas, despite the group's murderous attack on Israel that killed more than 1,300 men, women and children.

Bin Laden orchestrated the 2001 hijackings that killed 2,977 people and injured thousands at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. He was also behind multiple plots that have slain countless others around the world.

The relatives of the Americans he murdered 22 years ago fear his diabolical actions are quickly being forgotten.

They have urged schools to do more to teach children about the perpetrators and for the U.S. to come clean about Saudi Arabia's involvement in the attacks.

J.L. Partners asked 1,000 Americans what they thought of the man who declared holy war against the United States.

The mass murderer was shot and killed by Navy SEALS in Pakistan in May 2011 after a global manhunt.

When 18 to 29-year-olds were asked what they thought of the Saudi Arabian warlord, eight percent said they had a 'completely positive' view while 12 percent said they had a 'somewhat positive' perspective.

Among black voters, almost one in five (18 percent) shared the same positive views.

Eight percent of the Gen Z age group said both Bin Laden's 'views and actions' were good, while 23 percent said his views were good but his actions were bad.

Overall, 81 percent of American voters said they had negative views of him, while just under one in ten (eight percent) viewed him positively.

Fourteen percent said the terrorist leader had some 'some good in terms of either his views, actions or both' while 70 percent said both his views and actions were bad.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. was united in tracking down Bin Laden and the terrorists responsible.

And in 2011, shortly after he was shot and killed, a poll of 22 countries found that three-quarters believed the United States was justified in taking him out. 

The stunning results of DailyMail.com's poll reveal a stark change in attitudes and follow worrying examples in recent months of younger Americans questioning Bin Laden's evil. 

In November, anti-Israel TikTok users sent Bin Laden's 2002 'Letter to America' with his justification for 9/11 viral.

Some users said their 'eyes had been opened' and backed his claim that the attacks were a retaliation for the U.S. supporting Israel.

In the letter he also accused the American government of spreading AIDS throughout the world and described homosexuality as 'immoral'. 

James Johnson, founder of J.L. Partners, told DailyMail.com: 'It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there is a cancer in the American body politic: a small but sizeable group of its youngest voters.

'Polling has found that 18-29-year-olds are most likely to deny the Holocaust and, in our October Daily Mail poll we found that Gen Z Americans are more likely to sympathize with Hamas. 

'And now we have this on Osama Bin Laden, the man behind the biggest attack on American soil in its history.

'A few weeks ago his writings went viral, with young Americans praising the Islamist leader. Some wrote that off as a few shrill voices on social media, others suggested it was fake. 

'This poll shows that was no fad, but a reflection of real opinion amongst one in five 18-29-year-olds.'

Terry Strada told DailyMail.com the results are ‘horrifying’ and are a ‘disturbing’ sign that terrorism is being ‘normalized’.

Her husband Tom, a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald, was in the North Tower on the 104th floor on 9/11.

Their final conversation was when he called her after the second plane hit.

 

Eight percent of the Gen Z age group said both Bin Laden's 'views and actions' were good, while 23 percent said his views were good but his actions were bad

 

In the 22 years since, she has been fighting to find justice for her husband's murder and for the families of the victims as the National Chair of 9/11 Families United.

‘What is wrong with our youth?’ she added. ‘How do they not realize the horrors of terrorism?’

‘This is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down’.

Strada blames the results on the U.S. school system not adequately teaching the truth about 9/11 and those who were responsible.

The heroism of first responders is covered in lessons, but not the role of terrorists or the involvement of any state actors.

She has led the effort to pressure the U.S. government to reveal any ties Saudi Arabia had to the attacks, while they have swept them under the rug.

The results of this poll, she says, will leave a terrible legacy for the children of 9/11 victims who could still be seeking answers as the ‘vile’ attacks slip from the national consciousness.

Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when his father perished in the South Tower, said the poll results show young minds are being 'perverted' by the U.S. government's 'feckless inability' to hold responsible parties to account.

He has also spent years fighting for justice for the families torn apart on that fateful day and demanded the U.S. be more transparent about Saudi involvement. 

DailyMail.com: 'We have never been told the full story or truth about what happened to us on 9/11. 

 

Fourteen percent said the terrorist leader had some 'some good in terms of either his views, actions or both' while 70 percent said both his views and actions were bad

 

'So it’s no wonder why today’s youth and adolescents have taken such extremist views supporting the evil that visited us that day. We have a two-decades-long government cover up to blame for this. 

'The time is past for a full accounting of the Saudi Government role in 9/11 as well the intelligence failures of the US government. 

'The minds of this country’s youth are being perverted by our government's feckless inability to be honest with itself and hold the rightful parties accountable, so we actually have a situation where a significant number of young people are praising the murder and death of our neighbors.'

 

Bin Laden orchestrated the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center that killed 2,977 people and injured thousands. He was also behind multiple plots that slain countless others 

Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when his father perished in the South Tower, said the poll results show young minds are being 'perverted' by the U.S. government's 'feckless inability' to hold responsible parties to account 

Terry Strada told DailyMail.com the results are ‘horrifying’ and are a ‘disturbing’ sign that terrorism is being ‘normalized’. Her husband Tom, a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald, was in the North Tower on the 104th floor on 9/11 and perished after calling her for the final time

 

He was also outraged when Bin Laden's letter went viral, and said TikTokers fawning over him realized he wouldn't hesitate to kill them.

The letter began to gain traction online after UK newspaper The Guardian linked to a 2002 article which translated it in full in a piece about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

It was subsequently deleted by the British news outlet, but not before videos with the hashtag 'LettertoAmerica' had been viewed millions of times.

In his infamous letter, Bin Laden ranted that the treatment of Palestinian people had to be 'revenged' and expressed justifications for the killing of civilians in the name of jihad. 

'The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq,' bin Laden wrote

For this reason, the Saudi Arabian terrorist wrote, all Americans and Jewish people were culpable for 'the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against [Muslims].'

Bin Laden wrote that AIDS was a 'Satanic American Invention' and repeatedly made anti-Semitic remarks including suggesting that American society was infiltrated by Jewish people who 'control your policies, media and economy.'

The rapid spread of the letter and the discourse it sparked among young people shows how TikTok is becoming an influential source of news.

A Pew Research poll conducted in November found the number of Americans getting their news from TikTok had quadrupled from three percent in 2020 to 14 percent in 2023.

A third of those under 30 said they ‘regularly’ got their news from the video platform.