Why Terrorism Works

The Making of 9/11

To understand the events of Sept. 11, 2001, you must go back to Sept. 5, 1972, when terrorists conducted the Olympic massacre in Munich, Germany. That attack was part of a pattern of violence that had started just a few years earlier and extended through 9/11/01.

In 1972, the West Germans were warned about the possibility of a terrorist attack on the Olympic games, but they denied a request from Israeli officials for permission to help guard their own athletes. Eight armed Palestinian terrorists - almost certainly aided by East German officials - scaled the fence around the Olympic village. They murdered one of the Israeli coaches and threw his naked, bullet-riddled body out a window. Next, they shot an Israeli athlete, leaving him to bleed to death in front of seven teammates. The terrorists promised to kill the others unless some 200 imprisoned terrorists were set free.

The terrorists demanded to be flown to an Arab country. Israel requested permission to conduct a rescue operation with its highly trained troops. With its prestige on the line, the German government refused. Lacking trained antiterrorist police, and using border guards to ...