Want to really go out on a limb? I'm not saying I believe this, but I could see this as a plausible explanation: The U.S. knew about these attacks in advance. The NSA today admitted they intercepted communications from the terrorists in advance, overhearing the plans. But the NSA said they did not get around to analyzing their intercepted data until AFTER the attack took place, which is why they didn't give a warning.
What if they actually did get the information in advance, knew of the attack, and were told to hold off on the information by the Bush administration. What if they figured the planes would do some damage, but not the total collapse that actually happened? What if they figured that this limited damage (that they imagined would happen) would be enough to basically institute their plans for the country, and that thus the dead Americans (a few dozen at most, they figured) would be worth it.
Of course, the results were worse than anyone imagined. But it still gives them the chance to go around the world, carte blanche, and kill anyone they want, no other nations giving them any grief. For an administration that has been adamant about ripping up peace treaties, picking fights with China, and basically setting up this country for a new agressive stance against the world, this time is like kid-in-the-candy-store for them. They get to kill people again! Let's go git bin Laden and git everyone else while we're at it.
Plus they get the added bonus of being able to sneak through Congress all sorts of draconian laws they've been trying for years to get passed but have been blocked by the Constitution. Now they can wave their flags and pass the laws, and the media won't even cover it for they are too busy waving the flag themselves! The big lie of conservatives is that they want smaller government. Individual conservatives do want smaller government, but conservatives in power just want more power. Well, now they got it, in spades.
In short, with any event, ask yourself, Who benefits? The Bush administration just benefited big time, in multiple ways, from what just happened. Now maybe they are totally innocent, and are just taking advantage of a big present that was given to them by bin Laden. Or maybe they heard about the plans ahead of time and decided to accept limited damages (not dreaming the Towers would actually collapse) in order to push for what they think is needed for this country.
As I said, this is wild speculation. But governments of the world have proven to be so untrustworthy over the decades that it certainly isn't implausible that something rotten is going on.
