Reply #1: a good post. Selective, but even if we accept that's it's representative, notice: [View All]

Nowhere does bin Laden declare that HE masterminded or was ultimately behind the 9/11 plot. His use of "we" could quite plausibly refer to "those of us who struggle against US domination," his brothers in arms, as it were.

This is not a minor point. It leaves entirely open the possibility of infiltration and/or external influence/direction bu US agents/provocatuers. It cannot be avoided that the mujaheddin were used by the US and the ISI to do their bidding for many years, and that deep and lasting ties remain with its remnants right up to the present day.

Whatever is said publically, we can be sure that US intelligence and its elected leaders understand the real motives for terror attacks: US domination in the Middle East, US support for corrupt Arab leaders who oppress their people, and perhaps most of all support for Israel's criminal policy toward the Palestinians.

Of course it cannot be ruled out that bin Laden's "we" acted without US shepherding. I am not trying to strip them of agency or anything of the kind. But an examination of:

-- the historical record (including the long record of US infiltration and support of radical Islamist terrorists, its monitoring of them prior to 9/11, its virtually undeniable foreknowledge of a plot of this kind 'coming soon', the many clear warning from foreign intelligence services prior to 9/11;

-- the desirability of having an enemy stage a successful attack against an apathetic public ; and

---the particulars of the 9/11 attacks and aftermath (the undeniable support from ISI, long a conduit for US money to terrorist/freedom fighters in the Middle East, the need for state sponsorship of some kind during the planning and execution stage, the ease with which the alleged hijackers to and from, and within, the US while being surveilled, the coordination of the plot, the strange lack of response from US forces and the secret service re: President Bush, the Joint Inquiry and 9/11 Commission whitewashes and the silencing of whistleblowers)

all suggest the distinct possibility that the US welcomed or was directly involved in the action. THERE IS NO DOUBT that proteges of US and British intelligence are directly involved. THERE IS THUS NO DOUBT that they are at minimum accessories to the crime. From Nafeez Ahmed's blog::

<i>Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has disclosed that Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl and is now facing death penalty, was actually the British secret Agency MI6’s agent and had executed certain missions on their behest before coming to Pakistan and visiting Afghanistan to meet Osama and Mullah Omar.

... General Musharraf has written in his book that while Omar Sheikh was at the London School of Economics (LSE), he was recruited by the British intelligence agency MI6, which persuaded him to take an active part in demonstrations against Serbian aggression in Bosnia and even sent him to Kosovo to join the jihad. At some point, he probably became a rogue or double agent.

The local media is discussing the possibility that Omar would use evidence from President Musharraf’s memoirs to save himself from the hangman."</i>

I'll note too that all of this assumes that bin Laden's words are his, and can be trusted. I'm inclined to accept them, but not everyone will. For evidence of this, check the reaction when he disclaims responsibility for the attacks!

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.binladen.denial/