Terror attacks on American Mass Transit

[PragMantisT]

After shooting their wad on hijacking planes and using them as missiles, terrorists are planning to attack mass transportation (Greyhound, Amtrak).
What will this accomplish? Will there be a huge, savage reprisal for attacking folks whom the administration pretty much consider cannon fodder anyway?
Attack a greyhound bus, kill maybe 60 people who don't get a tax cut because they don't really pay taxes, no cameras, no "undisclosed location", no disappearing *. When was the last time anyone in the administration took a bus or a train. Ashcroft gave up riding with the hoi-polloi a long time ago.
Attack an Amtrak train. Hell, one less entity to take money out of the corporate welfare program. This administration would pin a medal on anyone who blew up a train with 120 people on it. They could save money by canceling that route. Money that can be skimmed by Vaterland Security in the guise of better airport security where folks who pay taxes go to travel.
The attacks of September 11th were, unfortunately, an act of terroristic genius. The media was there to cover the second plane on national TV. People questioned their own security. Our leaders were shown to all thinking people as the chickensh*t that they are. America was lured into any number of wars (2 and counting). Mohamed Atta played America like a fiddle. America is portrayed as a swaggering, drunken bully going after shadows in the mens room. Brilliant manipulation.
Now terrorists are reduced to attacking targets which our current administration will see as inconsequential. Will that attack be immortalized in the public mind like 9/11?
We must all make sure that it does. An attack on 20 people is every bit as important as an attack on 3000. We must remember any lapse in our government's ability to protect us. * may not be reading about a goat when it happens, but he is tuning up his violin to fiddle while we burn.

[SharonAnn]

1. Wouldn't we have to have mass transit first?

I'm in East Tennessee and except for a few metro Knoxville buses, there isn't any.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[caledesi]

3. Excellent post. I like your mind PMT! nt

[PragMantisT]

6. Thanks

It bothers me that attacks on non-moneyed targets will be ignored by this administration. They simply won't care unless a bank or billionaire is attacked.

[Fovea]

4. I think that terrorists know America better than that.

They are really looking at the things that will shut down our economy as well as terrorise us.

To do that, they would have to shut down our highway system with persistent weapons like dirty bombs. Of course, seeing what happened with air quality reports, if they did set off a dirty bomb, would our government lie to us again about safety?

Unsecured targets abound in the US. The grid could not survive a mid summer attack, for example. Sports arenas are far more successful targets for ABC weapons than Amtrak. The terrorists understand American society far better than we understand theirs. We gave them breathing room by going after Saddam, arguably their worst enemy in the region.

In short, I do not think the terrorist capacity to hit the United States is all that diminished, simply because we have more airport security than in Sept 2001. If anything, we have decentralized them, and left them more to individual initiative. But if you are prepared to be a martyr about it, America is still amazingly vulnerable.

[IronLionZion]

5. Shut down our economy?

All they have to do is help Bush get re-selected!