Effective means of countering such efforts wouldn't have to be that sophisticated. Take about 100 million USD to start--about the amount used to finance Starr's and Congress's persecution (sic) of Clinton.
I don't even think the piloting skills amount to much. Some of the hijackers could have been ex-military or civilian pilots with very little training on Boeings, and so far, the only training that has been documented is flight simulation in the US. Does bin Laden have flight simulators in his cave? Does Hussein have a new Boeing? I've heard these are like the Air Buses. Computerized and rather easy to fly, with takeoffs and landings managed by two pilots (and such maneuvers were not in the terrorists' flight plans anyway).
2. The actual plan didn't succeed as well as the perpetrators would have liked. There were fewer people in the WTC than there might have been at, say, noon, and many people did manage to escape using fire escapes. The Pentagon numbers are a real mystery (you would suppose that the military would be effective at accounting for personnel quickly). I believe only the clerk-typist types died at the Pentagon, since anyone with a G-17 rating or higher was probably out playing golf in Alexandria or something (hence the initial reports of up to a thousand dead and now it looks like more died on the airplane than in the building). One plane went down in Somerset County instead of hitting a target in Wash. DC (or going down in a populated area on the way).
3. The death toll is staggering for the US, but seems to be coming in much, much less than initial estimates. Is less than 6000 possible? Also, I wonder, is actual property damage going exceed the burning of LA (notwithstanding the unusually high procurement costs of rebuilding the Pentagon).
4. This puts an end to that idea that these things happen when Democrats are in power because those who do such things are not afraid of Democrats and the law and order party really has potential perpetrators cowering in fear of retribution.
5. PR disaster for Republicans looms.
In Florida, the first things out of Pres. Fonics's mouth were, of course, the wrong words. I think when everyone calms down and have got it out of their systems, quite a few will realize this. He said that terrible things had been done to the US and those responsible or any who harbored them (paraphrasing here) would be unmercifully dealt with.
But so far, the only real signs of criminality are in the US, with some reports linking that with conspiratorial activities in Canada, Germany, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. I doubt if any bombs are going to start falling in any of those places.
Of course, his first concern should have been to read a script that put first the safety of those caught up in the events--even Clinton or Gore would not have blown that. And most likely Gore, who has been to a war zone before, would have shrugged off emergency plans from the DOD hacks and gone to both Washington DC and NYC much sooner.
6. So the Republican party reptiles will try to link bin Laden with Hussein and bomb the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Why not, bin Laden was responsible for Oklahoma City til the chicken that was McVeigh came home to roost.
What level of destruction would help them (i.e. US politicians who want to keep their political careers and will do anything to prevent a real inquiry) to save face? Perhaps CNN could just show file footage of previous efforts and we could get on with it. Something worth seriously proposing.
As more and more Americans realize just how few--miraculously--did get killed in this disaster, fewer and fewer will want US troops invading Afghanistan. How much of Afghanistan is still standing so it could be bombed?
Charles Jannuzi Fukui, Japan