[quote:]

Does anyone think that 9/11 would not have happened if Bush had not been elected? [unquote]

Yes. Me (aside from the question whether he was duly elected or not).

Undoubtedly the planning for what became 9/11 had already been done, but it might not have been implemented in September 2001 if there were a US president who looked serious about tackling the Israel/Palestine problem rather than one who seems to give Likud and those to its right free rein. Military operations staff develop the plans and capacity for all sorts of operations which are never implemented. And 9/11 was a very professional operation that demonstrated considerable planning and execution capability, whatever you think of its perpetrators.

From the time that the Bush administration took office, it took a succession of initiatives which demonstrated contempt for international order and the rule of law, not to mention the rights of the Palestinians. Any vestige of an indication that it might apply even a modicum of pressure to the Sharon regime to go some way towards respecting countless UN resolutions and peace initiatives could have encouraged Al Qaeda to stay its hand. But the Arbustitist Machtergreifung may have been the event which convinced the people who had made this particular plan that they might as well implement it then rather than hope for a peaceful settlement. If the Middle East were at peace, there would be no "need" for the intrusive US military presence in Saudi Arabia which was the stated grievance of Al Qaeda. And if the US hadn't interfered as much as it has in so many countries in the region, Saudi Arabia might not be in the hands of anti-democratic fundamentalists who are financing the seedbeds of resentful fundamentalism both there and in other countries including many European countries. And if Saudi Arabia wasn't a powderkeg waiting to explode, the US mightn't feel the need to invade Iraq (which has nothing whatsoever to do with Al Qaeda, apart from the "Q" in its name) in order to secure future oil supplies. And so on.