I’d go for the epicenter of American intellectualism. the SDMB server. Unfortunately that includes the entire Chicago staff. Adios! Er, I mean “Death to the Infidels.”
I’d go with the “ultra simple” route…small teams, armed with grenades or molotov cocktails. Just use them to attack large groups of people—shopping malls, movie theaters, concerts, churches, etc. No special training needed, just “throw these bombs into a crowd on such-and-such a date.” You could even use the most “expendable” minions you had.
For creativity’s sake, you might use the tactic used by Japanese radicals who were against the building of the Kansai airport…mortars.
Low-tech, not too much extra training required, and I can’t imagine very expensive. Accuracy wouldn’t be that vital, either…you could just lob explosives into the downtown area of a major city from a mile away, until the minion doing the shooting is caught or killed. You might even use chemical warheads—cheap nerve or mustard agents, or even just CS. Once the word gets out that you used chemical weapons, Mass hysteria would undoubtedly cause many people to think that they were gassed than were actually effected.
But if you put some effort into it, with training, fire-coordination, etc, you could still use the mortars for “precision” attacks. Attacks on things like oil refineries, broadcasting antennae, airport runways, freeway arteries, etc.
But of course, one of the most “cost effective” ways would be to do nothing…but make everyone think that you might. Spread rumors that terrorists will be using armored cars as APCs, or armored suicide bombs, or something. You don’t even have to have the ability to do anything with armored cars, but if the public doesn’t know that, you’ll cause panic just the same.
For another example of the above, youSend an “expendable” minion to break into a food processing plant, ostensibly to dump cyanide in the foodstuffs. Make sure that the minion a) Doesn’t actually know anything compromising about you, and b) that he’s incompetent enough to get caught. A few days later, release a statement to the press declaring that you’ve successfully poisoned, oh, say the nation’s Cheeto supply, undetected. At most, the company will be forced to recall recent batches of it’s product, and at the least, you can count on consumers staying away from the “tainted” product for some time. And of course, you can substitute “Cheetos” for any ingestible product of your choosing…soda, candy, Aspirin, produce, or what have you.
A disturbingly large proportion of posters in this thread have been banned. Just a comment.
I happen to think this sort of discussion is useful for national defense, though. (Not that the national defense boys are actually reading this, although you never know.) Helps us identify our weaknesses.
I still think the hijacked-planes scenario hasn’t been done to death yet. Airport security seems still ridiculously easy to defeat, especially in smaller cities. Potential weapons are everywhere – not in the tweezers and nailclippers they confiscate, though. I guess the reinforced cockpit doors and some armed pilots are an issue, but they could be overcome with a little imagination.
I’d (not that I’d ever do such a thing) take a plane using a team of unarmed professional streetfighters disguised as a foreign soccer team.
Given the lack of major events in America since, I guess, the anthrax, I’m starting to wonder if we’re actually winning the War On Terror. It seems to have been awhile since I’ve been terrified. On the other hand, a big part of me is still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I would hit Disney World on Labor Day (4th of July depending on time frame). It might piss off some people but it would scare the hell out of the majority. Explode a bomb as a decoy, but in fact attack with chemical or biological agents.