When you consider that 16 years later, we still lack public domain proof that Osama bin Laden was the organizer of the attacks, and that the Bush admin deliberately covered up Saudi intelligence involvement (the infamous “28 pages”), it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Iraq was the second war, not the first, that GWB lied in order to get the US involved in.
This is Bin Laden in his own words from a video he distributed:
"...It is the American people and their economy. And for the record, we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Ataa, Allah have mercy on him, that all the operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration notice.
It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face those great horrors alone, the time when they most needed him.
But because it seemed to him that occupying himself by talking to the little girl about the goat and its butting was more important than occupying himself with the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers, we were given three times the period required to execute the operations - all praise is due to Allah..."
In my opinion, he had more reasons to deny it than to claim credit for it, yet he chose to claim credit. Those are his words in his video he released to Al Jazeera. And he isn't some kind of flunky they picke out of a hat to be a fall guy. He was involved with multiple acts of violence against America.
For me, thinking Bin Laden didn't do it doesn't move a needle at all.