The editorial pages of global news outfits weighed in yesterday on the anniversary of 9/11, and they didn't have very positive things to say about U.S. foreign policy. 

China's English People's Daily Online says U.S. foreign policy, "highjacked" by neo-conservatives, has increased the threat of terrorism worldwide by transforming Iraq into a "hotbed of training ground of terrorist activities." (sic) Their recommendation: evaluate the United States' "double-standard policy in the Middle East," which is "the major source of the increasing anti-US sentiment and terrorist activities."

In The Moscow Times, Alexei Bayer also criticizes the global war on terror (GWOT), writing: "George W. Bush's administration swallowed al-Qaida's bait hook, line and sinker."  Instead, he argues, the United States would have been better off ignoring terrorist "provocation" and not treating the conflict as a war, considering the age of terrorism - in the vein of the British in Northern Ireland - a time of "troubles."

Hassan Nafaa in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly discusses how GWOT "became a war on Arabs and Muslims," saying that the United States conflated a war that should have been focused solely on al Qaeda.

Germany's Deutsche Welle takes a more balanced look with a 17-article reflection on the attacks and how they affected the world.

Similarly, The Toronto Star's editorials cover both sides of the discussion: Linda McQuaig argues that the war on terror is feeding "anti-Western rage in the Muslim world" and laments that the United States missed the opportunity to start a dialogue with former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in 2001. But McQuaig lacks a solution. Conversely, Rondi Adamson praises how the West has advanced GWOT and advocates continued vigilance toward "Islamofacists." However, the news pages contain an article giving credence to conspiracy theorists.

Were there other conspiracy theories? Of course. An article in South Africa's Mail & Gaurdian asks "Was 9/11 an Inside Job?"

Well, the naysayers have it: The last drops from the outpouring of goodwill from the fall of 2001 have all but dried up.