You missed the point entirely, achimspok.
My question was not about the motivation, it was about the choice of attack. Why use a plan that would entail a latively large number of conspirators and leave considerable evidence breehind, dramatically increasing the chances for failure due to exposure?
Let’s assume (a big assumption) that everything in your response to me was the motivation for the invasion of Afghanistan/Iraq. The evil Bush Administration now needs a horrific attack against the US to initiate their devious plan. Why blow up half a dozen buildings, including the Pentagon (which would entail losing many people whose skills could prove invaluable in the furtherance of said nefarious scheme) without giving thought to the consequences of exposure, when there are simpler, more secure methods of achieving the same goal?
Such as a chemical weapons attack that could be blamed on a joint Al Qaeda/ Saddam operation, killing hundreds (perhaps thousands) of innocent civilians. No loss of capital resources (the 9/11 attacks cost the US a helluva lot of money), no loss of potentially critical personnel, no evidence left behind which could potentially expose the plot, no co-conspirators that might someday confess, and yet it would have the same impact on the US population.
An attack of this type would be simple, and airtight from the perspective of OPSEC.
A very small team of agents take several canisters of VX with the identical chemical signature of that manufactured by Saddam (perhaps even actual canisters captured during DS/DS) , and detonate them on a chilly, windy morning in Times Square during the Morning Show. Huge crowds, perfect weather conditions, TV cameras rolling as Katie Couric introduces the latest heart throb boy band.
Twenty million people watch Katie’s sweet little face melt as the crowd ( boy band included) gasp their last horrified breath.
The subsequent investigation reveals that the gas bombs were planted by a group of Iraqi students who are revealed to have ties with both Saddam and Al Qaeda. When their house in Long Island is raided all are found dead of the same chemical poison ( an accidental release of unused VX after the bombs were planted). Computers found in the home , along with letters, journals, etc., definitively link the terrorists to OBL/SH.
The students are actually dupes acting (unwittingly) on a false flag operation handled by the conspirators.
The actual conspirators are out of the country as soon as the mission objective is complete. A second team of conspirators, completely unaware of the mission of the first team, takes out the original team quietly and securely. Mission security is now assured.
No one left alive can “blow the whistle”. The second team, even if they someday encounter a crisis of conscience, can only say they killed someone on behalf of the government ( and they might not even know that much, if outside contractors are used).
You have your casus belli. Cheap, just as effective, and from the viewpoint of OPSEC, airtight.
On the one hand you seem to feel that the “gubmint” is composed of brilliant criminal masterminds, yet on the other those same evil geniuses are unable to think through a conspiracy of this magnitude and decide to engage in a Rube Goldberg operation without considering other options that are more secure and just as effective.
Just think what could happen if the shadowy “powers that be” decided to hire an elderly, retired bail bondsman with little secondary education and a penchant for drinking too much Two Buck Chuck on Saturday night, to run their dastardly deeds department.
Hey, Gnomes of Zurich! I’m available Monday through Friday ( I need Sundays off to nurse my hangovers).
Scary, ain’t it?
