Scott Horton explains the obvious.
Scheuer lists the main six grievances on al Qaeda’s list:
First and foremost are the U.S. combat forces that spent 13 years in Saudi Arabia after the first Iraq war, and have now mostly been moved to other bases on the Arabian Peninsula. As Professor Pape told me, moving them to Qatar is a distinction without a difference to bin Laden, who, he says, deliberately uses the Arabic word for “Arabian Peninsula,” rather than for “Saudi Arabia.” These borders were drawn by the British, after all.
Second is America’s unconditional support for Israel, which occupies Jerusalem.
Third on the list were the long-term blockade of Iraq and the bombing of the “no-fly” zone, which happened, on average, once every three days for over a decade. These have now been replaced by the wars against, and ongoing occupations of, Afghanistan and Iraq – even more valuable recruiting tools as Afghanistan is the site of the holy warriors’ great victory over the USSR, and Iraq, being home of many religious sites, is holy land in Islam as well.
Fourth on Scheuer’s list of bin Laden’s motivations is American support for Russia, China, and India in their suppression of Muslims.
Fifth and sixth are U.S. government support for corrupt governments in the Middle East, none of which are democratic (among these are Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, and now Iraq), and pressure (that is, threats of violence) to keep oil prices set where American mercantilists want them.
Is it a surprise that all of the 9/11 hijackers were from countries (Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) with governments friendly to our own, and that none of them were from Iran, Iraq, or Syria?