Oh to chose a random country, paid Tajikistan to put a base
India already has bases there-the sudden entry of the U.S would offend the former , and I'm pretty sure a former Soviet-block country like Tajikistan, or any other country in proximity to the Subcontinent, would not really allow U.S military presence on it's soil.
Or they could have gone to Nepal to sort out the Maoist lot.
That would make it appear as if America was supporting the King-who has always been viewed as somewhat of a dictator.
the US wanted a solid motive for invading Iraq it would be fairly trivial to plant some WMD for the inspectors to find. Or allow them to shoot down one of the planes patrolling the no fly zone. Fair trivial and produces a much stronger case than the unrelated 9/11
These would not have evoked as strong a reaction in the U.S as the killing of 3000 Americans ON American soil would. As for WMDs- it is not really all that easy to "plant" them without the act being noticed.
Or allow them to shoot down one of the planes patrolling the no fly zone.
The Iraqis are not foolhardy enough to actively provoke the U.S by shooting down one of the latter's planes. Also, by analysing the plane's flight-path it would be obvious that the pilot did not make any effort to dodge the missile. Also the lack of flares (used to avoid heat-seeking missiles) or chaffs would be noticed. Thus, it would be obvious that the American pilot was not making any effort to evade the attack-a very unusual occurence indeed. More importantly I doubt whether the U.S. airforce has a kamikaze squadron.
Good arguements nontheless.