We don’t have to concern ourselves with the general question of whether terrorism is a viable tactic for achieving political ends. We’re discussing a more narrow question: were the 9/11 attacks “successful” and in which sense.
My position is that the attacks were successful beyond the hopes of al-Qaida—they damaged the US in a major fashion (with enthusiastic cooperation of the US government, both Republican and Democratic administrations, I might add).
We don’t have to concern ourselves with the general question of whether terrorism is a viable tactic for achieving political ends. We’re discussing a more narrow question: were the 9/11 attacks “successful” and in which sense.
My position is that the attacks were successful beyond the hopes of al-Qaida—they damaged the US in a major fashion (with enthusiastic cooperation of the US government, both Republican and Democratic administrations, I might add).