Great points... unfortunately the video, the discussion, and the point being made is far too cerebral for most Americans to digest. Quite unfortunate for sure.

While I'll agree that Americans are not keen on digesting complex issues, points being too cerebral are not the issue here. Besides, I don't think the party line of "they hate us for our freedom" is less complex than "they hate us for our foreign policy." If anything, it requires a bit more imagination.

No, if the U.S. government allowed popular opinion to germinate that its foreign policy was the central motivating factor in terrorist attacks, then the U.S. government would eventually have to alter that policy. That's not something they want to do.

We've all seen the vids of the GOP debates where each candidate (except for Ron Paul) toed the party line of "they hate us for our freedom." The Dems are guilty of it too; Clinton said much the same thing after the WTC was attacked the first time.

The U.S. government knows that people like Ron Paul and people like the author of this video will always come across as conspiracy-theory nutjobs. Let's not forget, also, specifically pointing out U.S. foreign policy toward Israel gives off a very pungent whiff of antisemitism which is why the crowd at the BookTV event boos the last questioner. America has been taught very well to frown upon anything that comes in the vicinity of antisemitism.

And these are the reasons why major media news outlets ignore such stories. So even if journalism wasn't dead in the U.S., they do not currently have an investigative journalism segment on American Idol.

So the ultimate goal in hiding this truth is to continue to run their foreign policy the way they want, exclusive of public scrutiny.

^ To make the same point with less words, it was obvious that we'd done something to provoke the attacks, otherwise, why go and sting the nose of the biggest dragon on the planet?

People believe the lie about "they hate us for our freedom", because it absolves them of any responsibility, direct or indirect, for it.

People squelch this, not because it's too complex, but because it's too damning.

I'm not saying what they did was justified, but they aren't evil incarnate, and attacked us simply because of our obviously angelic goodness.