Thread: "The US Does Not Torture"

Honestly, I see nothing in those articles but an acknowledgement of our occupation in the middle eastern nations and a subsequent feeling of (whether misguided or not) self-defense on the part of Al-Qaeda, in that they are only fighting for an end to our occupation. It is on this premise (as far as I see) that they have put out the call to "kill Americans wherever they lie." Were we not meddling in their affairs (again, I'm not saying whether we were "right" or "wrong" to do so), I do not see them as just some intrinsic faction that exists soley for our erradication. They (under the "authority" granted to them by their religion) seem to feel that they are acting on a level of self defense. We have been over there waging a decades-old campaign that has killed many of their civilians and (from their perspective) they are fighting back.
Misguided though they may or may not be, I'm still not convinced that this is just some faction that exists solely for the purpose for taking us out, or even spreading their religion internationally, by force, were it not for our occupation.

We base many of our actions on the concept of September 11th and feel that, since they were consciously able to kill 3,000 of us (and by interpretations of subsequent dialog), they exist only for the entire destruction of all people and things American. Is it impossible that 9/11 was a (albeit very grave) message of warning? If (think about this for a second) it was, and their main objective is simply to be left alone in their own world (at least, militarily), how would we know, now that we have spread the word among our nation that their only mission is to destroy is all, while we downplay the fact that most of their spite comes from our long-standing occupation of their land?