Posted by BStu at 207.180.184.236 on September 11, 2001 at 21:34:20:
In Reply to: Highly coordinated? Sophisticated? Expensive? posted by darrenistheman on September 11, 2001 at 21:08:00:
This is obviously a terrible tragedy, and nobody should be jumping to conclusion as to how it was carried out. However, this was very likely a very large conspiracy. First off, the plan obviously had a great deal of planning spent deciding what targets to attack, how to do, when to do it, what planes to hijack, and how to do that. That alone takes a degree of planning that most lesser terrorist groups are interested in doing. Is it all that difficult? I suspect not nearly as much as any of us would have thought or hoped. However, it still requires complex organization to board teams of hijakers onto four seperate planes from three different airports. Also, this alone would be quite expensive. Not to mention these had to be teams willing to die. Finding 12-20 or more people willing to die for anything, and be appropriately secretive about it is not going to be easy. Also, it is very safe to assume that at least four people were trained to fly a 767 or 757. It is beyond unlikely that any pilot would fly a suicide mission for a terrorist in even the most extreme conditions. The three strikes were very strategic and deliberate. That's not something an amateur can do. This was a very large conspriacy. That is what makes it so complex, sophisticated, and doubtlessly expensive. It is comparitively very easy for two kids to go into their high school and commit horrible murders than it would be for 12-20 or more terrorists to organize this assault. This could *not* be done by a lone terrorist. Moreover, what we have heard from the few eyewitness accounts, we know for a fact that it wasn't. That doesn't even begin to address what support "staff" there might be. It may seem frighteningly simple, and in many ways it is. However, the planning is well beyond anything most groups are capable of and certainly would have required considerable resources. That is how I have reacted to the news reports today. I'm not expert, but that is what I have gathered.