Just as Germany during the rise of Hitler had genuine woes the Nazis invoked. The devastation from the first war and the post war settlement, the depression, etc. And at the risk of being insensitive, those woes impacted Germans with greater duration and force than 9/11 has US citizens.
Still, I don't think this should be viewed too closely, or at least not exclusively, as a parallel to Nazi Germany. I do agree with Carrol's frequent point against speaking of the authoritarian developments of today in the terms of Nazis or fascism. It is not much more coherrent than speaking of the rise of authoritarian European governments during the interwar years in terms of Bonapartism, like ideological syndication.
Back to your point about Al Queda. Hitchens railed against using the faith based death squads of 9/11 as ventriloquist dummies for left causes. True enough, but there is also flipside of using the corpses of the twin towers in the same manner to speak for authoritarian measures. The victims wishes are invoked for this extension of state power or that patriotic furor.
With this often comes a kind of necromancy, especially in foreign policy.
The US government and military are baptized with the blood of the slain to absolve it of any role in "root causes" and to bless ensuing imperialism. If it's disingenuous for leftists to invoke the occupation of the West Bank or the sanctions against the people of Iraq to "rationalize" Al Queda, it's no less a sham to use 9/11 to christen military adventures.
-- Shane
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