Greg, that's only the view of one former CIA analyst. CIA set up a "Bin Laden Unit" to collect and analyze intelligence on OBL and AQ long before even the attacks on our embassies in Africa in 1998. Gary Schroen, who took the first CIA team into Afghanistan--and others with experience in that part of the world--wanted to go after Bin Laden prior to 9/11. They could not get a green light from Washington.
I agree with you that it IS about ideology. Not about Islam per se, because under Islam, suicide is a sin; killing innocent civilians is a sin; and certainly killing fellow Muslims is a sin. (Note that all of the above are happening in Iraq.) The 9/11 Commission got that one right. The problem is radical Islamism, which is a perversion of the religion to further the religious/political goals of certain terrorist leaders.
