The Charleston Shooter: Is He Or Isn't He?

[starroute]

30. It's a sincere question

Terrorism can be used as a weapon of war to strike fear into an enemy population. It can be used by a faction to intimidate voters or to make the ordinary processes of government unsustainable. It can be used to demand the release of political prisoners or a cash mayment. It can be a means by which the disenfranchised make their grievances known in a way that cannot be ignored.

But 9/11 wasn't any of those. It's never been clear who was actually behind it. Bin Laden kinda-sorta took credit for it, but it's pretty clear it couldn't have been coordinated from a cave in Afghanistan. And though we've assumed that the goal was the withdrawal of US troops from Saudi Arabia -- which did occur in 2003 -- that's never been entirely clear either.

Perhaps the secrets are all hidden in those 28 pages. Maybe people at the highest levels of the Saudi government pulled it off to get us out of their country and we were so terrified that we not only protected the perpetrators but gave into their demands. If that's true, it would be the revelation to end all revelations, and I'd love to see it come out.

But if it is true, that may be why the Bush administration couldn't clearly define it as an act of terror -- despite using the word "terror" incessantly -- but had to pitch it as a seemingly motiveless hate crime. And that puts it on the same level as the Charleston shootings.