The protection money theory

[OnTheOtherHand]

4. OK

I didn't suggest that the Saudis didn't have any covert ops capability; I'm not so sure they could have pinned an assassination on the U.S. or Israel, as plausible as that might have been in the abstract. That said, they surely would have alternatives to merely giving OBL whatever he asked for. So, it's reasonable to wonder to what extent any deal with OBL reflected actual support, at least for attacks outside the country.

I think it's genuinely odd that questions like yours don't attract more attention than interminable arguments about 9/11 physics. I suppose it is because people have some sense that they can clearly see the physics, whereas it is harder to convince ourselves that we know the answers to your questions. It's harder actually to speculate than just to pound the table.