Around 20% of young Americans view Osama Bin Laden — the mastermind behind the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history — in a positive light, according to a new Daily Mail poll.
The poll, which surveyed voters between 18 and 29 years old, also found that around 30% of the young Americans believe the views that guided Bin Laden were a “force for good,” The Daily Mail reported. Bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy Seals in May of 2011 after a decade-long manhunt for the radical Islamic terrorist. The al-Qaeda leader orchestrated the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., which killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
Of the 18-29-year-olds surveyed in the poll, 8% said they had a “completely positive” view of Bin Laden while another 12% said they had a “somewhat positive” view of the infamous terrorist. Among those who viewed Bin Laden positively, 8% said both his “views and actions” were good, and 23% said his views were good but his actions were bad, according to the Mail. Eighty-one percent of those polled overall held a negative view of Bin Laden.
The Daily Mail poll results come a month after viral TikTok videos showed young Americans discussing Bin Laden’s “Letter to America” and sympathizing with the al-Qaeda leader after reading it. The letter outlines Bin Laden’s justification for the 9/11 terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Terry Strada, whose husband died in the North Tower on 9/11, told the Mail that the poll results are a “horrifying” and “disturbing” sign that terrorism is being “normalized” in the U.S.
“What is wrong with our youth? How do they not realize the horrors of terrorism?” Strada asked. “This is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down.”
Another American who lost a loved one on 9/11 blamed the U.S. government’s lack of transparency about Saudi involvement in the terror attack for the rise in young Americans’ sympathies for Bin Laden.
“We have never been told the full story or truth about what happened to us on 9/11,” said Brett Eagleson, whose father perished in the South Tower. “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.”
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“The time is past for a full accounting of the Saudi Government[‘s] role in 9/11 as well the intelligence failures of the US government,” Eagleson added.
In October, a survey conducted by Cygnal showed that a majority (57.5%) of Muslim Americans believed Hamas was “justified” in its terrorist attack against Israel. While most Muslim Americans defended Hamas’ actions on October 7, 75% of all Americans condemned Hamas for attacking Israel and murdering around 1,200 people.