Just before 911 I went there after a 3 week camping safari in Tanzania. Didn’t like it much, we got sick after not having one problem while out in the wild. First we went to a resort that seemed to be filled with sleazy Italians, intermittent electricity, and questionable food which was probably why we got sick. Then we went to the main city to stay in an old hotel - walk up - and some guy talking on the phone loudspeaker at 5 a.m. in a language we couldn’t understand or shut off.
We knew so little about Islam before 911.
Oh, we knew. We chose to pay it no mind since their craziness was a constant thing to the point of being quaint. Iran, Salman Rushdie, the first attempt to take down the WTC, et al, it was all “out there.” We shouldn’t have been surprised in the least when 9/11 happened. The sad part is that a large majority refuse to acknowledge they’re at war with us.