Why did Osama only bomb in New York?

Answer 1

Osama bin Laden planned and directed many separate attacks worldwide, including attacks on U.S. Embassies in other countries, an attack on the U.S.S. Cole, and separate plane attacks on The World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and one plane that passengers fought back and the plane crashed in Central Pennsylvania. As well, Osama's orchestration was behind a failed attack in a NY subway and the failed but infamous "shoe bomber" aboard an airliner. Several other attempts have been made to place bomb components, but these were never positively linked to Al-Qaeda and bin Laden.

As to the locations, Al-Qaeda and bin Laden's intentions were to hit targets in major cities. A primary goal has been to attack, interfere with, and disable major and key U.S. resources, including:

• political and leadership locations, such as the White House
• military targets, such as bases on U.S. soil or abroad, U.S. ships, and The Pentagon
• primary financial centers, such as The World Trade Center
• major transportation areas, such as subway, railroad, and large bridges
• major utility areas for electricity, hydro (dams), etc.

Goals

One goal of terrorists is the killing or injuring of as many people at one site during one or combined attacks, such as the terrorists' actions at Tower 1 and Tower 2 of The World Trade Center. In addition, the strikes carried out on Sept. 11th hurt, harmed, maimed or killed others not in the Towers, such as Firefighters, Police, and Emergency Management personnel. Further, the debris and dust cloud created by incinerating 2 massive buildings along with many other New York buildings has led to chronic lung illnesses among New York citizens who lived in that area.

A second goal is to engage (keep busy) as many key personnel, from The President, The Mayor, firefighters, police, emergency personnel, etc., as possible, and ideally in several separate incidents occurring at once or within a short period of time. If these key personnel are busy in one or more locations, protective resources are "stretched thin" and therefore, the city/area is more vulnerable.

A third goal is included in the word "terrorist"-- that is, to incite "TERROR" among a large group of people. In addition to the actual attacks in New York City, for example, citizens re-felt their initial terror over many years anytime they heard or saw a low-flying plane. Terror includes an inability to predict the future, which in turn creates fear and powerlessness.

A fourth goal is to disrupt major utilities or transportation. The US has continuing concerns about multiple attacks, including in congested cities, on major bridges, nuclear power plants (which would kill or injure hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people), utility (gas, electric, water) plants, and of course, attacks on airliners which could harm people on the ground as well as in the air. If terrorists were able to hijack a plane with 200-300 aboard and crash it into a major utility site, the consequences could be dire (think of the 2011 Earthquake in Japan-- minus the tsunami ) -- just the initial explosion on land at one of these sites would be great.

For all of these reasons (and more that citizens are not being told), the United States has remained on moderate-to-high threat alert status for the majority of the last 9 and 3/4ths years. This also means that all citizens must be aware of their surroundings even more, and be proactive in reporting any "unusual" activity. In the past, if someone spotted a backpack left in a park or subway (for example), they likely would have just picked it up and taken it to 'lost and found' or to the police. NOW, however, people are more afraid-- they should not touch the bag, call police-- and then, police are more cautious now and will more likely call in the bomb squad to check out the bag first, rather than going to the item and inspecting it while unprotected. Al-Qaeda and terrorists have certainly created terror and uncertainty unlike anything the US as a whole has ever experienced in the past.