There is a powerful propaganda phenomenon described by political scientists as The Big Lie. It thrives best when planted in the soil of deeply engrained prejudice. Adolf Hitler crafted The Big Lie in the l930s when he blamed the Jews for the woes of the German people. There had been a long history of virulent anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria The Jews were the obvious choice as scapegoats.

On each anniversary of 9/11 there are ceremonies and events to commemorate the day and to honor over 3,000 Americans who died. In the United States, it is accepted as fact that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. Most of the terrorists in the hijacked planes were from Saudi Arabia, but the mastermind was hiding in the hills of Afghanistan. The assertions by some that Saddam Hussein and Iraq were connected to the plot have been discredited in detailed factfinding books as well as the 9/11 Commission reports. It is unfortunate that a segment of the U.S. populace still believes that occurred.

How the Muslim world views 9/11 is another story. In the New York Times on Sept. 9, 2008, Michael Slackman reported from Cairo, "Seven years later, it remains conventional wisdom here that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could not have been solely responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001, and that the United States and Israel had to have been involved in their planning, if not their execution." Slackman based his article on extensive conversations he had with people from different walks of life in Algiers, Riyadh, Dubai and Cairo. He visited cafes, parks and shopping malls. He talked at length with cab drivers, students, electricians and engineers as well as certain government officials. He listened to their views and found a similar theme ran through all of them. "They simply did not believe that a group of Arabs - like themselves - could possibly have waged such a successful operation against a superpower like the United States."

Mohammed Ibrahim, 36, a clothing store owner in Cairo, said, "Maybe people who executed the operation were Arabs, but the brains? No way. It was organized by other people, the United States or the Israelis."

In a café in Cairo, Zein ab-Abdin, 42, an electrician, spoke excitedly to Slackman, "What matters is we think it was an attack against the Arabs. Why is it that they never caught him, bin Laden? How can they not know where he is when they know everything? They don't catch him because he hasn't done it. What happened in Iraq confirms that it has nothing to do with bin Laden or Al Qaeda. They went against Arabs and against Islam to serve Israel. That's why."

For Americans to fathom such ideas, we have to stand back and consider how the United States is seen in the eyes of the speakers. We are seen as all powerful and all knowing. From that basis, they draw conclusions that make sense to them.They cannot imagine that the United States was not able to foil the attacks with our far-reaching intelligence system across the world. It is worth noting that the 9/11 Commission hearings revealed that the Aug. 6, 2001 warning in the daily briefing to President Bush - that Al Qaeda 'would strike within the United States" - was chalked up to "history" by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in her testimony.

Ahmed Issab, 26, a Syrian engineer who lives and works in the Arab Emirates, was skeptical when he said, "Look, I don't believe what your governments and press say. It just can't be true. Why would they tell the truth? I think the U.S. organized this so they had an excuse to invade Iraq for the oil." We know, of course, that there are critics of the Bush/Cheney administration who have charged that 9/11 was used as the springboard for declaring war on Iraq. The rest of the world watched as this happened and Muslims in particular drew their own conclusions.

Part of the rationale underlying the Muslim view is linked to rumors that began to circulate shortly after 9/11 — that Jews did not go to work at the World Trade Center that day. These rumors have not been set aside by asking how Jews might have been alerted to the danger, or how they kept it a secret from co-workers. When Muslims are asked these questions, Slackman found they waved the questions aside. This part of The Big Lie has become accepted as proof of who was actually behind the 9/11 attack. Ahmed Saied, 25, a cab driver in Cairo, asked, "Why is it that on 9/11, the Jews didn't go to work in the building? Everybody knows this. I saw it on TV, and a lot of people talk about this."

It is important to realize that throughout the Middle East, there is skepticism about government leaders as a whole. They doubt the motives of their own leaders as well as those of the United States and Israel. Ibrahim, the clothing store owner in Cairo, spoke scornfully of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, "Mubarak says whatever the Americans want him to say, and he's lying for them, of course." The public is also skeptical of the press that is owned by the government.

Beyond the firm belief that Jews were absent from the Trade Centers is the final "proof" that 9/11 was used as the reason to invade Iraq. "It is the result of widespread mistrust, and the belief among Arabs and Muslims that the United States has a prejudice against them," said Wahid Abdel Meguid, of the government's leading research center. He added, "So they never think the United States is well intentioned, and they always feel that whatever it does has something behind it." Hisham Abbas, 22, a student, was sharp and accusatory when he spoke of 9/11. "There are Arabs who hate America, a lot of them, but this is too much. And look what happened after this — the Americans invaded two Muslim countries. They used 9/11 as an excuse and went to Iraq. They killed Saddam, tortured people. How can you trust them?"

The Big Lie has spread over seven years - that the United States and Israel were actually behind the attacks on 9/11. Much as we may think this is absurd and unthinkable, it is believed by millions of people throughout the Muslim countries in the Middle East. We need to challenge The Big Lie and convince people that we are fighting a war against terrorism, not against all Muslims.

Joyce S. Anderson's articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other national publications. She is the author of "Courage in High Heels," ""Flaw in the Tapestry," "If Winter Comes" and "The Mermaids Singing." She can be reached at JSAWrite@aol.com.