Will Terror Follow Us Home?

On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush addressed the American people and gave the following reason for why al Qaeda attacks us: "...its goal is remaking the world -- and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere." Bush continued, "They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." However, Michael Scheuer (the former CIA chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station) disagrees. In his book Imperial Hubris, he states the following six U.S. policies as bin Laden's and al Qaeda's motivation:

"
- U.S. support for Israel that keeps Palestinians in the Israelis' thrall.
- U.S. and other Western troops on the Arabian peninsula.
- U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
- U.S. support for Russia, India, and China against their Muslim militants.
- U.S. pressure on Arab energy producers to keep their oil prices low.
- U.S. support for apostate, corrupt, and tyrannical Muslim governments.
"

Notice that not one of Scheuer's points claim al Qaeda is attempting to convert the world to Islam or that it wants to destroy America's freedoms.

Many U.S. citizens are concerned now that if our troops leave Iraq, al Qaeda will "follow us home." If we falsely believe they hate us because we are free, then the threat of terror will remain forever. However, if we listen to Mr. Scheuer and understand al Qaeda's true motivations, then we realize that our national security can be protected by altering U.S. foreign policy.


Sources
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Scheuer
Scheuer, Michael. Imperial Hubris. Brassey's Inc, 2004