The Walt – Mearsheimer claim about Israeli policies being the catalyst for 9/11 seems to be based on an uncritical acceptance of Bin Laden’s post 9/11 explanations of the event. ( See the recently published The al – Qaeda Reader, edited by Raymond Ibrahim) In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, he was attempting to gain sympathy throughout the Arab world. He knew the issue of the Palestinians would strike a responsive chord. However, if one takes a look at Bin Laden’s August 1996 statement, there can be little doubt that it was the issue of American troops in Saudi Arabia that was driving most of his resentment. (In addition to the 1996 statement see also Rohan Gunaratna, Inside al Qaeda, p.46; Gilles Kepel, Jihad: On the Trail of Political Islam, pp. 317-32; Michael Sheuer, Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, pp. 49-52)

I have not read Walt – Mearsheimer on the issue, but I strongly suspect they – and, from what I have read, everyone else who argues anti – Israel resentment as the cause for 9/11- do not explain why there were no Palestinians involved among the 19 hijackers. In fact, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the one salient fact about 9/11 is that there do not appear to have been any Palestinians involved in any stage of the planning or execution. Thus, I find it astonishing that anyone could possibly believe that Bin Laden carried out 9/11 to avenge the Palestinians. Why did he use Saudi instead of Palestinian hijackers? If he really wanted to avenge the Palestinians, he certainly would have used Palestinian hijackers to make the point. The fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis confirms that he wanted to send a message about the American presence on Saudi soil. Of course, accepting this obvious fact would lay the problem directly at the doorstep of American support for Saudi Arabia, not American support for Israel.

Also overlooked in this discussion is the ousting of several hundred thousand Palestinians from Kuwait by the Kuwaiti government following the defeat of the Iraqi troops in 1991. This devastated the Palestinian economy and caused immense suffering in the occupied territories for the many who relied on the earnings of those working in Kuwait. Yet, I have never once seen any reference by Bin Laden – or any other Islamist or jihadist for that matter – to this matter. A remarkable omission for those who claim to be acting on behalf of Palestinian suffering.

Finally, I find it very curious that there do not appear to be any critical studies of the Saudi lobby in the U.S., and the possible involvement of this lobby in the decision to oust Saddam from Kuwait in 1991, and to finally oust him in 2003. (For the 2003 ouster, it might also be worth examining the roles of Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE)

John C. Zimmerman
University of Nevada-Las Vegas