http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2045979&mesg_id=2047113&page=(snip -- if links don't work, please go to original above)
So far, no one has offered a plausible explanation for the following sequence of events:
In May 2001 the U.S. State Department met with Iran, German and Italian officials to discuss Afghanistan. It was decided that the ruling Taliban would be toppled and a "broad-based government" would control the country so a gas pipeline could be built there.
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/7969.pdf .
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm Even as plans were being made to remove the Taliban rulers from power, Colin Powell announced a $43 million "gift" to Afghanistan.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-091701scheer.columnhttp://www.cato.org/dailys/08-02-02.html Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in the UAE received a call that Bin Laden supporters were in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives. It was rumored that Bin Laden was interested in hijacking U.S. aircraft.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/images/04/10/whitehouse.pdf In June 2001 the decades-old procedure for a quick response by the nation’s air defense was changed. NORAD’s military commanders could no longer issue the command to launch fighter jets because approval had to be sought from the civilian Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing7/for_the... In July 2001, the private plot formulated in May for toppling the Taliban was divulged during the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. Immediately after the conference, American, Russian, German and Pakistani officials secretly met in Berlin to finalize the strategy for military strikes against the Taliban, scheduled to begin before mid-October 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,556254,00.htmlhttp://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm In September 2001 the "catastrophic and catalyzing" modern-day Pearl Harbor envisioned years earlier by the White House members of the PNAC came to pass when the WTC and Pentagon were attacked with U.S. aircraft as Rumsfeld sat passive and unresponsive. Immediately, the finger of blame was pointed at Osama bin Laden, a former CIA operative with ties to Afghanistan. Suddenly, the U.S. "gift" of $43 million to the Taliban in May was cast in a new light. Coincidentally, Pakistan had participated in the plan to attack Afghanistan and the chief of Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence agency was later linked to a 911 hijacker after wiring him $100,00 just days before the WTC fell.
http://cryptome.org/rad.htm http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8830 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=1454238160In October 2001, with flags waving, crowds cheering, and anthems playing, the "War On Terror" and the hunt for Osama began when Afghanistan was attacked right on schedule of July's secret meeting
Shorrtly afterwards, public focus was diverted to Iraq. You already know the rest of the story.