"sandwiched in between."

Diane writes, "To Tom (representativepress): In support of your claim that al-Qaeda’s wrath at the U.S.A. is all about Israel, you linked to a post in which you quote bin Laden as saying, “we are striking them because of their evil and injustice in the whole of the Islamic World, especially in Iraq and Palestine and their occupation of the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries.” Note here that Israel (Palestine) is sandwiched in between Iraq and “the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries” (Saudi Arabia), where the U.S. had a bunch of military bases left over from the first Gulf War. So it isn’t just about Israel, but about the U.S.A.’s Middle East policy in general."

"In support of your claim that al-Qaeda’s wrath at the U.S.A. is all about Israel." - Diane

I have never said that Diane, try to find a quote that backs up your assertion. What I have written is clear as far as the 9/11 terrorists' motives. I have written that it is the main motive and I have written that "the MAIN issue was U.S. support of Israel and in all in all likelihood the terrorists would have concentrated on someplace else like Chechnya if the U.S. was not supporting Israel." I never said it was "ALL about Israel."

You write that I "linked to a post in which you quote bin Laden as saying, “we are striking them because of their evil and injustice in the whole of the Islamic World, especially in Iraq and Palestine and their occupation of the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries.”"

I not only linked to it, I quoted it in my post to you and I know what I am quoting. I am quoting what I have been quoting for years, which is the motives for the attacks. You are making a straw man argument.

Diane, again you have characterized what objectively is the second in a list of three things as "sandwiched in between." The phrase "sandwiched in between" is not an objective and neutral reference for what most people would call the second in a list of three things. It appears that you trying to downplay Israel as a motive.

Now sometimes bin Laden mentions Palestine first, sometimes second and sometimes third in the usual list of three grievances but as far as the main motive which motivated the 9/11 attack, look at statements from the hijackers, the mastermind of 9/11 and others:

The 9/11 report at least mentioned this about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11 (although we know commissioners pressured to not include Israel as a motive for the attacks because they didn't want the American people to reassess the policy of supporting Israel): "By his own account, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel." Chapter 5

The report also showed that the two terrorist pilots shared the same motivation. Both Mohammed Atta, the leader of the mission and terrorist pilot who crashed into World Trade Center 1, and Marwan al Shehhi, the terrorist pilot who crashed into WTC 2, were angry about what Israel was doing to the Palestinians: "when someone asked why he and Atta never laughed, Shehhi retorted, 'How can you laugh when people are dying in Palestine?'" p 162

In March of 2002, MSNBC aired "The Making of the Death Pilots." In that documentary, German friend Ralph Bodenstein who traveled, worked and talked a lot with Mohammed Atta. Ralph said, "He (Atta) was most imbued actually about Israeli politics in the region and about US protection of these Israeli politics in the region. And he was to a degree personally suffering from that."

Abdulaziz Alomari, one of the hijackers aboard Flight 11 with Mohammed Atta, said in his video will, "My work is a message those who heard me and to all those who saw me at the same time it is a message to the infidels that you should leave the Arabian peninsula defeated and stop giving a hand of help to the coward Jews in Palestine." Ahmed Al Haznawi, a hijacker aboard Flight 93, said in his video will, "Here is Palestine for more than a half-century, its wound has continued to bleed."

We see that the main motive is what many Middle East experts say is the main grievance in the Middle East which is what Israel has been doing to Palestine. It is not surprising that the main grievance in the Middle East is the main motive for the attacks. There is no evidence that bin Laden isn't actually angered by the specific foreign policies he complains about.