In retrospect, it’s blindingly obvious.
The WTC is a symbol of American commercial power. Heck, it already had one terrorist attack against it. Obvious target.
Using a plane to kamikaze into a target. Also blindingly obvious.
In recent discussions of the Missile Defense Shield, the argument has been convincingly made that a rogue state (or terrorist) would be better off simply floating a nuke into a harbor aboard an old ship, and then set it off there, rather than using a trackable, technically more complex missile. Well, same principle applies here.
I’m not sure what we can do to prevent this sort of occurance in the future. Step up intelligence efforts, clearly. Tighten security, to at least some degree. But, hell, we can’t really mount SAM batteries at all our major cities.
About the only thing I can think of that we must do is rebuild. Do it at the taxpayer’s expense, if need be. Take away the symbol they’ve created. Restate the struggle in our own terms. “No defeat. No surrender.”
And get ready for a longer, rougher ride.
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.
— Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968)
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Historical Review of Pennsylvania (1759)