Weinstein is ignoring the evidence

As Michael Scheuer, former head of the bin Laden unit at the CIA, wrote, “These attacks are meant to advance bin Laden’s clear, focused, limited and widely popular foreign policy goals,” namely ending U.S. aid to Israel, ending support of Arab dictators and withdrawing troops from their lands.

Nothing about killing infidels or orchestrating a global caliphate. Just a response to U.S. foreign policy.

In order to maintain his nationalist adoration of America, Weinstein bypasses all of this evidence and more. It pains conservatives to think for a second that America has implemented harsh, violent and misguided foreign policies that may have angered some people.

I set out to disprove the baseless notion that al Qaeda attacked us on 9/11 for any reason other than in response to aggressive foreign policy toward the Muslim world. But the broader point is much more important than that. That is, we are sowing the seeds for more terrorism in our post-9/11 actions.

Since then, the U.S. has invaded Iraq, killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, deposed its dictator (who we used to support) and set up a client state that is sliding towards dictatorship, ruining civil society and torturing its prisoners.

The Iraqi government has just re-opened the stalled court case investigating an incident in 2006 in which U.S. troops summarily executed an Iraqi family, shooting in the head one man, four women, two children and three infants. This incident occurred the same year the National Intelligence Estimate found that the Iraq war was “breeding deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.”

And in Afghanistan and Pakistan we’re engaged in an increasingly violent war with an elusive purpose and high civilian casualties.

Ninety-two percent of Afghans have never even heard of 9/11. For them these are unprovoked abuses. For Washington, they are necessary parts of the war on terror. For Americans, they are embryonic terrorist threats.

Meanwhile, we continue to support Israel’s illegal activities in the occupied territories and continue to pay and weaponize some of the worst dictators in the region. The empire of bases only grows, provoking further resentment.

If Weinstein’s mythical view of terrorism remains as widespread as it is, U.S. foreign policy will continue to breed more of what it ostensibly fights against. And Americans will continue to be critically endangered for it.

John Glaser is the assistant editor of Antiwar.com.