"I had long, probing conversations with these Al Qaeda people," Turner said. The Arabs, he said, abhorred what they regarded as the corrupting influence of Western money and morals on traditional Muslim societies and Arab governments, especially in Saudi Arabia, site of two of Islam's three holiest cities.

"Their attack on the trade towers, in talking to them, was an effort to do that, to break down that economic base," he said.

The argument, if not the action itself, resonated with Turner. He settled in Afghanistan in the 1970s, converting to Islam and eventually fighting the Russians alongside the mujahidin after being captivated by a tribal culture that had changed little in hundreds of years.

"They don't want their world polluted," Turner said of the Arabs. "They see us as the greedy people that we are.

"I'm not saying I'm a terrorist or an Al Qaeda person, but I can understand their reasoning."

Anybody still think it's all about Israel, or our foreign policy?

As for this jackass Turner, maybe he needs to spend a little time among the Arabic rulers in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere for a perspective on greed. I've noticed they don't exactly drive Yugos around and live in walkup apartments. As for the "tribal culture" of the Al-Qaeda, it could use all the "pollution" by Western values that it can get.