By Timothy Welton Cavanaugh

As perverted and grotesque as they were we must stand in awe to the conception and execution of the 9/11 attacks and the post-9/11 chess moves that have turned this country, even the entire world, completely upside-down.  Beyond the true awesome power the effect of a terrorist event of that magnitude would have on a people – effectively making them so malleable as to accept any action(s) from their government that even suggested a return to a state of security – the choice of targets alone and which ones were and weren’t to be hit and why was genius.

The selection of targets was clearly the result of a well thought-out strategy that had the intent of attacking the very pillars of America’s strength in the world.  In one September morning the United States of America, the most powerful nation in the history of mankind, had the symbolic seats of power of its economy, military and civilian government attacked.  The most powerful of those three, the economy, was brought to its knees and remained there for weeks and for certain industries months and years past before normalization returned.

No, by no means were these targets random or even merely easy-hit, opportunity selections.  They were meticulously chosen by probably a team of dozens of experts for the immediate and lasting psychological impacts their destruction and/or close-calls would have on the American people, and the team hit the nail on the head.

Consumerism to the rescue

Of course the economic target was the world trade center complex and surrounding city.  I emphasize more then just the towers here because America lost more then simply two tall buildings in lower Manhattan that fateful morning.  Often overshadowed by the spectacular collapsing of the towers is the fact that an entire city block of the most vibrant city in the nation was wiped out, supposedly by two airliners used as missiles that were perfectly aimed to crash in the exact spots on WTC towers 1 and 2 to bring them both down.  It should be mentioned that these airliners were said to be piloted by inexperienced student pilots, trained only on single engine aircraft.  They apparently were poor students at best who didn’t even finish the course – Yah, that’s believable.  Further, following the attacks for blocks around, arguably the most economically productive city blocks in the world, normal life ceased and stayed that way for weeks and in some cases months.

In the months following this short-term economic jolt America’s economy rebounded with a vengeance.  Fueled mostly by mind-numbing, patriotism driven consumerism – spurred on by President Bush’s encouragement that all American’s should do their part and go shopping – this economic infusion did the trick even though it was ultimately short-lived.  This was a very important development and one that was probably predicted and therefore planned for by the conspirators.  It sent a huge message to the world, to include the American people, that even attacks of this enormity could not stifle our massive economy for long.

Within days following the attacks billions of tax and private investor dollars (but mostly tax dollars) began pouring into the military, defense and security sectors.  Numerous companies, mostly well connected defense contractors, that had just endured a decade of stagnant sales following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War were all of a sudden being called upon again to “protect” this nation… because America had a new enemy – the terrorist.  Upon receiving these massive injections of capital in defense contractor board rooms throughout the country if you listened very closely you could hear small groups of senior executives quietly chanting the defense contractor mantra – “All hail the never-ending war.”    

Barely a scratch

The military target was of course the Pentagon.  Unlike the World Trade Center with its complete and thorough destruction the Pentagon suffered relatively minor damage from its single airliner strike.  Literally, after the predictable evacuations following the morning’s attack in many offices of the Pentagon employees were actually let back in to the building and work continued for the rest of the day.  In New York two airliner impacts supposedly collapsed WTC towers 1, 2 and 7 and shut down an entire city for weeks but at the Pentagon – the seat of Americas military might – a building arguably one tenth the total mass of the WTC complex, one plane couldn’t even shutdown the entire building for the whole day.  Of course this was all part of the plan.

Like the symbol of the rebounding American economy, the military headquarters of the nation with its impenetrable persona along with the iconic depiction of the diligent Pentagon employees marching back into the battered but barely-scratched building to continue the fight was an important image intended for the entire world to see.  The message: If you hit us get ready to be pummeled back.

Close but no cigar

The third pillar, the civilian government, which only received a close-call by the downing of United flight 93 was in my opinion, and contrary to most, a direct hit and in fact was as psychologically damaging, even if on a subconscious level, as the hits on the WTC and the Pentagon.  The 9/11 attackers got as close to hitting that pillar as they wanted to.

You see the obvious target for an assault on our civilian government and one that was directly in the altered flight path of the fourth plane was the White House.  Some may argue that the U.S. Capital would have been a more significant target as it houses all of our state representatives and would have likely resulted in more deaths.  But psychologically speaking the White House is not only the office and functional residence of the executive branch it also is the president's home.  The idea of hitting a man at his domicile could easily and certainly did resonate with all Americans.  We all have places that we call home and they all house our most valued possessions to include our loved ones.  Attacking a man’s castle is tantamount to war.

But the plane didn’t hit the White House!  Correct, but the suggestion that it was headed there and that the intentions of the supposed Muslim terrorists was to attack President Bush’s home, where his family lives and symbolically the national house of all Americans, was enough to cause the psychological terror the conspirators wanted.

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