9/12 And The 'War On Terror'

The events on the morning of September 11, 2001, marked the beginning of what would become a decade of war. So many lives lost, millions of dollars squandered and wasted opportunities. Ten years on many questions remain unanswered. Were the attacks of September 11 a case of blowback, or, as President Bush professed, 'a hatred of Western freedoms'? And why, if the hijackers came from friendly
Gulf countries, did the US launch a war against Iraq?

Was the global 'war on terror' a cynical pretext for neocon policy hawks and the vested interests of the military industrial complex; or a war of necessity against a new type of global enemy?