Robert Fisk had this to say about why the 911 Commission chose to downplay motive while examining the event that "changed everything."
"...'All the evidence ... indicates that Palestine was the factor that united the conspirators – at every level,' ..."
"One of the organisers of the attack believed it would make Americans concentrate on 'the atrocities that America is committing by supporting Israel'.
"Palestine, the authors state, '
was certainly the principal political grievance ... driving the young Arabs (who had lived) in Hamburg'.
The motivation for the attacks was 'ducked' even by the official 9/11 report, say the authors. The commissioners had disagreed on this 'issue' – cliché code word for 'problem' – and its two most senior officials, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, were later to explain: 'This was sensitive ground ...Commissioners who argued that al-Qa'ida was motivated by a religious ideology – and not by opposition to American policies – rejected mentioning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...
"'In their view, listing US support for Israel as a root cause of al-Qa'ida's opposition to the United States indicated that the United States should reassess that policy.' And there you have it.
"So what happened? The commissioners, Summers and Swan state, 'settled on vague language that circumvented the issue of motive'.
"
There's a hint in the official report – but only in a footnote which, of course, few read.
Robert Fisk: For 10 years, we've lied to ourselves to avoid asking the one real question - Robert Fisk - Commentators - The Independent