...if GWB masterminded this tragedy for whatever reason, then he is dumber than I usually give him credit for.

For many reasons. The worst terrorist tragedy happened on his "watch" (a Reaganism we are forever saddled with). It made him look like a bumbling idiot.

It sent the US economy into a recessive downspin, from which we have never fully recovered. (Despite Clinton's flaws, one thing he did seem to be rather adept at was managing the economy. Check his record on this, using whatever benchmark you choose.) People remember well when something hits their collective pocketbooks hard (which is why I think Bush's re-election was rigged. Surely all those Wall Street types couldn't have voted for him again when their portfolios are the equivalent of toilet paper).

So he did it as an excuse to invade Afghanistan in search of the ever-elusive bin Laden (an exceptionally tall Arab lugging around a dialysis machine, and our state-of-the-art sophisticated spyware can't find him? ... but "they" can read the license plate on your car from asynchronous orbits miles and miles above the earth)? Christ, could we not have consulted our (now) Russian friends on their experiences battling the "rebels" in moutainous terrain? Seems like they might've learned a thing or two in the interminable years they spent in that quagmire.

Or if he'd wished to query domestic resources, he could've asked any Kentucky, Tennessee, or North Carolina "hillbilly" just how effective the "revenooer's" war has been against the availabilty of buying a quart of high-octane "shine" or an ounce of primo dope. Mountain folk, by design and evolution, have to be tough to survive.
   
...Or did he do it so he could invade Iraq? Saddam, that bastard... had everything to do with 9/11 (as we were told) and besides he was hoarding piles of WMDs to use against us as soon as he'd sold all his oil to Exxon (even though it doesn't make sense to blow up your best customers).

Hell, since when has Bush ever needed a reason to do anything? He answers to a "higher Father" after all, and he doesn't need to explain anything to a country full of hayseeds and mind-numb couch potatoes as long as his vacuous speeches to the 'Merkun people don't pre-empt a rerun of "Friends" on TV.

Maybe God doesn't like Bush. Maybe God told Bush to blow up the Twin Towers because God wanted Bush to look stupid. There's a conspiracy theory for you.