The attacks on the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon, may turn out be the work of a well-financed, well-organized and well-informed international terrorist group. The U.S. may find itself at war, yet. It is important to remember, though, that either statement may also prove to be untrue. Despite the fact that the media keeps yammering on about a modern-day SMERSH stalking the planet, it doesn't sound like these attacks required a whole lot of sophistication beyond the ability to fly an airplane. How complicated can it be to plan this sort of attack? Even before the advent of the Internet, and on-tap information, you could have ballparked this with a map, dead-tree airline schedules and the most pedestrian of specifics concerning an airplane. I couldn't tell you how to sneak a matte knife past airport scanners but given the fact that Western news programs have been doing the same with actual guns, for years now, it can't be very complicated. Where you learn to fly a passenger jet low enough to hit a six-story building, without bailing in the process, is something that continues to escapes me. That, and the willingness to fly a plane full of people into a building full of people. And if the U.S. is "at war", as people are saying then they are at war with a shadow. Ask yourself, how you can be at war with everyone and no one at the same time. Ask yourself what the consequences are of living your life that way. Ask yourself if you really want to live in "Fortress America". Ask yourself, as Americans, how you are going to go to "war", or mete out justice, if it turns out that this was the work of other Americans. I am not trying to minimize what has happened. I may well be wrong on both counts. Either way, the whole situation just plain sucks beyond comprehension. There is little question that retribution will be visited on those responsible, and it will be awful -- small consolation -- but lashing out in blind anger and panic accomplishes nothing. I guess my point is that, while extraordinary, it is not outside the realm of the possible that this could have been carried out by "a few guys". And I'm really not sure how you fight against that which makes it all the more terrifying. Dubya's plan to wage a long and expensive war against an unseen enemy is little more than smoke and mirrors or, if you're inclined to believe that sort of thing, a slippery slope like you've never seen before. see also : How Good Were the [WTC] Pilots? via rebecca's pocket