# What would happen if an Al Qaeda flew a jet into the Burj Khalifa tower? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 12, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617 "2010-01-12T03:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/21 "2010-01-12T18:36:00Z")
They’d read the thread before responding. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/22 "2010-01-12T18:37:33Z")
> [@RNATB](#): > > The point is, if you envision a continuum with the fervently anti-Israel Arab states on the right and the least anti-Israel states on the left, the UAE - and Dubai in particular, since the emirates handle foreign policy individually, to a degree - would be to the left. Fair 'nuff. ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Dastardly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Dick\_Dastardly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dick_Dastardly)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/23 "2010-01-12T18:38:32Z")
EDIT: The international reaction would be that everybody would stronglly condemn the terrorist act, world leaders would be seen being seen at a memorial service and some kind of conference where they all get the opportunity to look tough and issue good soundbites for their domestic media, then everybody just forgets about it, goes back to talking about Tiger Woods and similar stuff. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/24 "2010-01-12T18:41:05Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > _sigh_ C’mon guys - the question wasn’t “what would Dubai do?”, the answer to which would be “not much of significance.” Which is pretty much what I was saying. Not much would change other than an useless piece of phallic architecture would get fucked up. > [@](#): > > The question was what would be the international reaction and more specifically the reaction of the Muslim world to such an event. The answer ( or my answer ), is that reaction would probably be about the same as to 9/11 - much shock and horror, lots of public condemnation. And maybe a few nutters celebrating here and there. Right. But not much would change in terms of actual policy. > [@](#): > > I kinda thought it went without saying that the UAE isn’t really up to invading Yemen, let alone Afghanistan. I know I just turned 42, but do you really think I’m already _that_ senile ;)? Heh. My point was obviously too obtuse. When asked what would happen, I pointed out that the US would stay the course, trying to imply that the US would do what it’s doing, and the UAE would still be a bit player. Meaning the US would continue to be the attack dog that keeps these petrol states going by fighting the fight for them. The UAE might provide some intel and money toward the job, but it’d really be a matter of just shifting accounts around. It would be more of a matter of which terrorist cells took priority, but not make much difference in terms of the overall action against Muslim terrorism. If the Burj Dubai is a symbol of anything it is a symbol of how Arab monarchs like to spend their money like spoiled children on flash, rather than investing in infrastructure and their populace. The indigenous population of Dubai is pretty much a bunch of welfare state parasites living off of the productivity of foreign workers. Instead of training their own people they have been subsidizing them with foreign loans to build giant skyscrapers that are entirely pointless. Now they are broke. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/25 "2010-01-12T18:43:48Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Which is pretty much what I was saying. Not much would change other than an useless piece of phallic architecture would get fucked up. If somebody described 9/11 that way, he’d have been Pitted about eight times already. There are _people_ in that “useless piece of phallic architecture”, you know. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/26 "2010-01-12T18:57:04Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If somebody described 9/11 that way, he’d have been Pitted about eight times already. There are _people_ in that “useless piece of phallic architecture”, you know. Yes of course. That was a bit callous of me. My point was more about Dubai and its impotence than it was really about the death caused by the terrorist attack. There would be people in the plane too, which would also be tragic. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/27 "2010-01-12T18:59:12Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Apparently [the builders considered the possibility](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100104/ml-dubai-tallest-building/): The head structural engineer at SOM gave a talk at my school about the building and addressed the question of a plane flying into it. He basically said that it’s impossible to design against unless you’re building a bunker. You can have measures to delay collapse or protect occupants, but the building’s fucked. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/28 "2010-01-12T19:48:21Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > What if some terrorist group like Al Qaeda, (or maybe Mossad or the \*\*\*Teabaggers \*\*\*or whoever) hijacked a passenger plane and flew it into the tower? What would the reaction be on an international level and on the part of the Muslim world? Bolding mine. Alright, so it’s not enopugh that orindary Americans get out and protest economic policies they don’t like and are called a derogatory sexual innuendo by lefties whose own penises are evidently smaller and less secure than they would like - you posit them randomly choosing a building in Dubai to blow up a la Al Quaeda? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/29 "2010-01-12T20:31:38Z")
Not to hijack or anything, but you people came up with the teabag connection, not us. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/30 "2010-01-12T20:46:40Z")
I know educated Arabs from Egypt and Jordan, and I’ve never met one who wasn’t taught and firmly believed Israel had help from America in the Six Day and Yom Kippur Wars. Not material aid but actual troop and arial coverage aid. If a plane by Islamic extremists flew into the Burj Khalifa, in about 30 minutes it’d be turned around and announced it was the West or Israel who did this and it was a set up. If you had a video tape of Osama himself confessing, they masses would believe that’s a fake. It’s actually probably an easier stunt to pull off than flying into an American building. I would wonder though how the structure would hold up. Surely the architects took the WTC incident into account, when they designed the building. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/31 "2010-01-12T20:55:08Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Alright, so it’s not enopugh that orindary Americans get out and protest economic policies they don’t like and are called a derogatory sexual innuendo by lefties whose own penises are evidently smaller and less secure than they would like - you posit them randomly choosing a building in Dubai to blow up a la Al Quaeda? WTF? My goodness, somebody’s feeling a little sensitive today. I think it was fairly obvious that the OP’s references to both Mossad and the Tea Party protesters were meant as satirical parodies of over-the-top conspiracy fears. And as **RNATB** said, the Tea Party protest folks have nobody but themselves to thank for the nickname “teabaggers”, as they deliberately chose the tea bag as a symbolic icon of their movement. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/32 "2010-01-12T21:13:45Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Bolding mine. > > Alright, so it’s not enopugh that orindary Americans get out and protest economic policies they don’t like and are called a derogatory sexual innuendo by lefties whose own penises are evidently smaller and less secure than they would like - you posit them randomly choosing a building in Dubai to blow up a la Al Quaeda? WTF? The Teabaggers [started](http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=Mjk1YmRjNzIxNmUwMTI0ZWYxZWU4OWU2MzFiOWJmNDE=) it. **Kimstu** and **RNATB** beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/33 "2010-01-12T21:15:57Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > they deliberately chose the tea bag as a symbolic icon of their movement. Sure, but you gotta cut em some slack because they’re _conservatives_. None of em could imagine the verbification a noun that just happens to look something like a nut-sack. That’s _way_ past airplane into skyscraper territory on the imagineering continuum. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/34 "2010-01-12T21:19:32Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Bolding mine. > > Alright, so it’s not enopugh that orindary Americans get out and protest economic policies they don’t like and are called a derogatory sexual innuendo by lefties whose own penises are evidently smaller and less secure than they would like - you posit them randomly choosing a building in Dubai to blow up a la Al Quaeda? WTF? As said, they came up with the name. And calling them “ordinary Americans” is an insult to ordinary Americans. And given the utter hatred and contempt that the Right always shows for everyone else, I fail to see why anyone should care if their feelings get hurt. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/35 "2010-01-12T21:22:26Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Sure, but you gotta cut em some slack because they’re _conservatives_. None of em could imagine the verbification a noun that just happens to look something like a nut-sack. That’s _way_ past airplane into skyscraper territory on the imagineering continuum. Not to continue this hijack even further, but it wasn’t just the imagery. “Teabag the Liberal Dems before they teabag you” And “Teabag the fools in DC” are two quotes from my link. These folks had no idea that this was a double entendre. Which makes it even funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/36 "2010-01-12T21:36:25Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > As said, they came up with the name. And calling them “ordinary Americans” is an insult to ordinary Americans. And given the utter hatred and contempt that the Right always shows for everyone else, I fail to see why anyone should care if their feelings get hurt. Really? What utter hatred and contempt would that be? No one would deny that I am conservative in my political views. But I’m also an “ordinary American” and there are very few people in this world that I can truly say that I hate. So, **DT** , since you have apparently taken it upon yourself to be an expert on all things right…where’s the hate, man? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/37 "2010-01-12T21:58:04Z")
Never mind **Humpy** , this is just **Der Trihs** ’s standard mindless anti-conservative poo-flinging (as opposed to **Der Trihs** ’s occasional informed and reasoned critiques of particular conservative ideas or policies, which are better worth reading). I just :rolleyes: and skip over it the way I skip over **Shodan** ’s standard mindless anti-liberal poo-flinging. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/38 "2010-01-12T22:37:48Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > If it was clearly the work of al Qaida, it might cause a serioud rift among various Islamist groups. Hasn’t Al Qaeda been killing Muslims in Iraq for years now? Knocking over a skyscraper in the UAE would be more dramatic, but not unprecedented in terms of choice of victims. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/39 "2010-01-12T23:10:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Not to hijack or anything, but you people came up with the teabag connection, not us. As always, you work hard to live up to your username. I am well aware that somebody made a sign. One man came up with a silly sign - which nonetheless more than adequately communicated his intent. You pick up on it - ALL of you - because it amuses you and enables you to think of yourselves as sophisticated. Why not, after all? Your small-minded “heroes” evidently think that low-brow insults are a good way ofmarginalizing them. Oh well, one can hardly expect better or your liberal “journalists” these days. You will learn better, I think. I, as usual, find the puffed-up self image of leftists congratulating themselves on their elegance while naming their political opponents in such a manner… amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-an-al-qaeda-flew-a-jet-into-the-burj-khalifa-tower/524617/40 "2010-01-12T23:15:03Z")
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