"Lots of background on a lot of people. I wonder how deep all this goes and who exactly is behind it? Is China behind all of it? Is bin Laden an intentional distraction for us? Boy, I could come up with all sorts of stuff."
Two facts on that line of thinking:
1) A Chinese general wrote an entire book in 1998 called "Assymetrical Warfare". The document included using commercial airliners as civilian "bombs".
2) WHILE we were invading Afghanistan, delegates of the Taliban were visiting the PRC.
My personal belief is that Al Queda is being used by the Chinese to weaken us economically. Attacks on us cause small casualties in comparisons to major conflicts, but the psychological impact does hurt our economy massively. Why drain us? Militaries cost money. Ask Rome why they couldn't defend themselves from the Germanic hoardes. They lost their tributary tax base and could not afford an adequate military to defend themselves. The Chinese are an old culture, that understands planning 50 years ahead. We on the other hand think year to year. They want superpower status and are well on their way to getting it. We on the other hand are beginning to become a receeding superpower. That's alright, it happened to Britain with the USA being the major catalyst. Britain turned out fine. If history teaches us anything, we should begin to focus on our own people then trying to bring peace to the globe.