NEWSWEEK
A decades-old document allegedly written by Osama bin Laden and titled “Letter to America” recently went viral on TikTok, with some young Americans believing that the al-Qaeda founder made valid points about their own country.
The two-page document, which was published by The Guardian, is a letter Bin Laden wrote in 2002 as a polemic against the U.S. and an explanation of the ideology that led him to orchestrate the 9/11 attacks.
While the incendiary document is now 21 years old, some have seen the text as a way to make sense of current world affairs, including the Israel-Hamas war. Bin Laden’s words have been described as “mind-blowing” and a “revelation.”
A search for “Letter to America” on TikTok shows that some of the most popular related clips have over 1 million views each.
“It’s wild and everyone should read it,” said one TikTok user, warning that the letter had left her “very disillusioned” and “confused.” Another user talked of having an “existential crisis” after reading the document and having her entire viewpoint on life changed by it.
“It’s actually so mind-blowing to me that terrorism has been sold as this idea to the American people…that this group of people, this random group of people, just suddenly wakes up one day and just hates you…it doesn’t make sense,” another TikTok user said.
A few TikTok reactions to the letter show users recreating their joy at hearing of Bin Laden’s death in 2011, then contrasting it with their shock at reading the letter in 2023, adding the phrase “he was right.”
Bin Laden, the son of a wealthy Saudi businessman, founded al-Qaeda—or “the Base”—in 1988 following the Soviets’ defeat and withdrawal from Afghanistan, a conflict in which he fought.
Under his leadership, the group launched several deadly attacks and bombings in various nations, including the attacks on September 11, 2001, where terrorists hijacked four airliners in the eastern U.S., crashing three of them against the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. In October of the same year, bin Laden was added to the U.S. Most Wanted Terrorist List.
The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 Americans and injured thousands more.
In the letter, bin Laden accused the U.S. of being responsible for the oppression of Palestinians because of its support for Israel.
“The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals,” bin Laden wrote. “Each and every person whose…
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