Suppose we have another crop of crazed, hate-filled young soon-to-be -martyrs, ready to hijack airliners and crash them into buildings. They are now(as we speak) gathering in “safe” houses, buying their (round-trip) tickets, and nursing their hatred for America.
My question: what targets do they want to hit this time? Some possibilities:
-US Congress buildings
-The White House
-NY Stock Exchange Building
-Statue of Liberty
-The Trans-America Building (San Francisco)
-Ft. Knox
So, that’s say you are an islamic terrorist…you have lived in the USA fdr several years, andyou speak english. How are you going to strike-will it be a truck bomb or hijacked airliner?
It seems to me if they wanted to attack a big skyscraper they’d attack the Sears Tower. I don’t even know what the Trans-America Building looks like, but EVERYONE knows what the Sears Tower is.
I also don’t really see why they’d hit Fort Knox.
Having said that, I don’t think they could pull it off the way they did in 2001. Hijacking airliners will be nigh on impossible - the crew and passengers will stop you or die trying, and a little knife is not going to stop fifty or more people. A truck bomb will not knock down the Sears Tower from the distance you’d have to detonate it from and all the other targets you mentioned would never let you get close enough. I guess they could get lucky but I’d bet against them and give you 2-1 odds.
They clearly put their eggs in one basket that day. Nineteen well prepared, fully brainwashed operatives, a staggeringly audacious plan and the element of total, utter surprise: no, that will not happen again I feel.
The idea of further sleeper agents waiting two more years while their comrades in Afghanistan are killed and numerous arrests are made worldwide is somewhat far-fetched. They would surely have acted in the first few months at the very latest. Also, the list of targets reads somewhat like an IMHO fantasy league, IMHO.
I believe any domestic attacks from now on would be in the form of “hardware store” terrorism: A van filled with fertilizer-based explosive like the IRA’s Docklands Bomb which caused £85M damage. If their target is financial, it would be in a business district or airport. If sheer human atrocity is their aim, then sports events or large pop concerts/festivals would appear vulnerable.
However, assuming they are able to organise a significant operation against a specific target (which I doubt) then Camp Delta may also enter the reckoning.
This is what makes me wonder?
i have read that of those 19, some were still alive after they had been reported as hi jackers.
Also, has anyone ever wondered why Norad refused to send scramblers up for over an hour after the first hit?
And why no one in the Pentagon was notified until afte rit had been hit?
And many many more that will not add up.
Future terrorist acts?
Well, they will probably happen, whenever the government decides to make them happen. All they need do is remove security procedures.
Hopefully, they will leave Ohio alone.
I’d try to hit an “undisclosed location.”
hee hee
I don’t think they’re thinking as big as pull a 9/11 again. Truck bombs and bio attacks in shopping malls perhaps.
Umm- if they are looking for sheer human atrocity, and want a fairly high profile target. There are thousands of elementary schools in the United States. These grade schools have almost no security, certainly not a level of security of a high school.
They’ll want to do something as big or bigger than last time. Airplane hijackings aren’t as practical as they were on 9/11, but I wouldn’t totally discount the possibility.
Al Q is big into multiple, simultaneous attacks. Assuming they have several sleepers or have managed to insinuate more operatives, nationwide truck bombing spree would be pretty terrifying. Imagine 10 Oklahoma City-level attacks occurring simultaneously in cities never before touched by terrorism. The down side would be lots of exposure for the operatives as the bombs were assembled.
In keeping with the ammonium nitrate fertilzer bomb theme, I still haven’t heard a good deefense against Bosda’s idea, which he has mentioned several times before, of filling a cargo ship to the brim with ammonium nitrate, soaking it in diesel fuel, putting into a crowded harbor, light fuse, and get away. Big, borderline nuclear boom.
I will once again state that the lack of smaller harrasment attacks or sabotage within the United States says to me that they don’t have the manpower to spare here.
My office is less than 50 yards from the Sears Tower; I can see it right now. There are metal detectors there now, and some really pitiful attempts at concrete barriers are under construction.
However, the Tower is still bordered by publicly accessible streets on all four sides. I’m no expert on truck bombs, but wouldn’t a semi filled with explosives still do some serious damage if it detonated on one of those roads? Wacker Drive runs about 20" from the front door on one side, and Franklin even less on the other side.
Plus there is still a parking garage underneath the Tower. I don’t know what you have to go through to get a spot in that garage, but I bet regular deliveries go through the loading dock, too. There are a dozen or so retail businesses in the tower, not to mention numerous leaseholders and a small Post Office. Even with metal detectors, the place ain’t exactly airtight.
Oh, plus the Federal Reserve Bank and the Board of Trade/Options Exchange are both within a block or two, and three Federal Buildings a block or two beyond that. I wish we’d stayed in our old building…
I already confessed to idly musing about painting huge targets on the butt-ugly Trump Tower at 47th Street / 1st Ave, and the MetLife (née PanAm) building sitting like a huge cinderblock between the Helmsley and Grand Central on Park.
Hmm, how about Madison Square Garden? It would be a more difficult target, I suppose, but maybe we could give them a free practice run or something…
Hmm, yeah it would be darn near impossible to hijack a passenger plane now, but how about one of those Fedex plane? Two pilots to get rid off (easy) and now that they know they can destroy whole buildings it would make it quite attractive.
Do they have good security around those FedEx planes??
I would go for British targets. Especially Arab/Muslim Brits that are wealthy and too cozy with westerners. Places where muslims and westerns live toghether “peacefully” are priority targets.
Hitting the US will only give them moral leverage to continue the Bush rampage… something Al Qaeda doesnt want right now.
I would say the next target is Harrods in London… maybe other places where the wealthy of islam play in Europe.
Perhaps you mean ‘everyone in America’ knows what the Sears Tower is… and I’d say that’s debatable.
I’d guess the majority of Europeans probably couldn’t tell you in which city the Sears Tower is.
Chicago ? I’m Brazilian. At least I have heard of the Sears Towers… never heard of the Tran-America one.
If only out of civic pride…
[JPG] The Transamerica Pyramid is in the center, the Bank of America building to the right.
To be honest, I can’t think of anything that’s both recognizable and susceptible enough to damage around here. (Recognizable to the rest of the world, that is.) The Bridge would be the first choice, but I don’t think it’s very susceptible to damage, just by virtue of its form. Alcatraz, maybe, or a Giants/49ers/Raiders game, maybe.
Well 9/11 has come and passed with no more than rememberance and prayers. Hmmm…maybe we are getting to the terrorists after all.