Of course Ron Paul was correct. He just restated what every US intelligence expert has stated many times...that AQ exploits widespread Muslim dislike of US policies in the middle east.
You've made an important, and contradictory, point. It demonstrates precisely why Ron Paul is wrong.
You can't exploit your own reasons. You don't need to. If the reason UBL attacked the U.S. was our policies in the Middle East, then in theory, if we cut all aid to Isreal, pulled out of the ME entire, and went home, we would cease to be al-Qa'idas' enemy.
But then we get back to that word. Exploited.
In truth, UBL capitalizes on public opinion and current events for his own purposes. He uses the bitter grievances of others like pick up lines at a bar. AQ's brand of apocalyptic/terrorist Salafism is utterly distasteful to most Muslims. But resistance sells. Resistance to America. Resistance to local tyrants. Resistance to *insert non-Muslim group here*. Resistance to whoever's got a boot on your neck.
Al-Qa'ida plucks Muslim tragedy from the news, and uses it as fuel for their propaganda machine.
That's not a "reason for 9/11". That's exploitation of the easily manipulated.
That's not a "reason for 9/11". That's exploitation of the easily manipulated.
That may be true in the case of OBL himself...he may not believe the propaganda he spews...or maybe he does genuinely believe it...in the end it doesn't matter what he believes, because he's only orchestrating the movement and recruiting members through his public statements. The hijackers...the ones who killed themselves while killing 3000 Americans...there is every reason to believe that they believe the propaganda. Poll after poll shows widespread Muslim distrust and dislike of American government policies...and AQ has been able to exploit that. Ron Paul's point is that the sanctions on Iraq were one of the reasons AQ attacked us on 9/11. In that, he is 100% correct because that is what AQ declared immediately after the attack. Whether or not OBL himself is angered by sanctions on Iraq is irrelevant...he says it because he knows its a good recruiting tool. And as Michael Scheurer said in my post above, when the US invades Iraq (whether the reasons were noble or not), Muslims see it as validation of what AQ has said about the US.
American intervention in the region has been the greatest help to AQ's recruiting because, as the April 2006 NIE stated, the jihadist movement is growing. It would be a wnderful thing if we could kill every jihadist and exterminate the movement once and for all. But, the nearly 6 years since 9/11 have convinced me that the US military presence that is needed in the middle east to kill jihadists is itself spawning them faster than we're killing them. Should the US leave the region, OBL loses his greatest recruiting pitch...that the US is seeking to dominate and humiliate Muslims
HEAR! HEAR! As the Brits would say. Enormous amount of wisdom said there, sir. Most Muslims sit in front of their TV sets and are fed a steady diet of anti-American and anti-Zionist rhetoric from government controlled outlets. Constantly exploited victimization deflects Muslim populations from the real failure brought them by their own governments and the religion these governments support.