On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes in a coordinated attack on the United States.
American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought back, likely preventing an attack on the U.S. Capitol or the White House.
More than 3,000 people were killed, including passengers and crew, workers and visitors in the targeted buildings, firefighters, police officers, and other emergency responders.
Osama bin Laden planned the attacks as a way to provoke the United States into costly wars in Muslim-majority countries, believing they would drain the country economically and weaken its military. He also expected the attacks to help al-Qaeda recruit followers and ignite a global religious conflict between Muslim and Christian or secular nations.
Bin Laden intended 9/11 to be a trap for the United States, and one could argue that he was partly successful.
The unjustified attacks of September 11 profoundly changed American life and U.S. foreign policy, leading to wars with far-reaching consequences that continue today.
Now, 25 years after the attacks, psychotherapist Scott Gibbs argues that the United States should free itself from bin Laden’s trap and break the cycle of global violence that began on September 11, 2001.
Gibbs’ book, "Toward the Turning: Rethinking the Meaning of 9/11, the Clash of Civilizations, and a Postmodern World," offers a philosophical and psychological examination of self-perpetuating conflict.
Gibbs views 9/11 as part of a longer cycle of grievance, provocation, and retaliation between Islamist movements and Western powers. Al-Qaeda carried out a horrific terrorist attack; the United States responded with the “war on terror”; and those wars produced more deaths, grievances, fear, and extremism. In his view, violence repeats through a destructive feedback loop.
Gibbs raises a central question: Can humanity learn to live with cultural differences without trying to dominate, convert, or destroy those who see the world differently?
Guest:
Scott Gibbs is a psychotherapist, a board member of the Existential-Humanistic Institute, and the author of Toward the Turning: Rethinking the Meaning of 9/11, the Clash of Civilizations, and a Postmodern World.
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This interview will be recorded live on Thursday August 20, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.
