John Fredrick Parker
Donor
I think as to AQ's actions, that they would try sooner rather than later. UBL was certainly sophisticated enough to understand that Bush would give him the reaction he wanted far more than a Democrat, and more likely to spread the fighting elsewhere.
I'm a little skeptical -- not so much that Osama was looking to provoke a military reaction from the US (which I'll give you), as that he saw Bush as his best shot of achieving it. Unless there's a source I don't know about...
Also, w/o 911, doesn't airport security remain in the piss poor state it was in before the attacks? You know, the lowest bidder private security firm, with minimum wage 70 year old retirees with fused neck veterbrae and cataracts working as scanner operators? I see neither the Patriot Act (15) nor even just the TSA being founded. Say what you will about the other aspects of Bush's security procedures, but when I travel, I'm very glad to see a professional, career-based, YOUNG, and healthy, public employee workforce who knows the consequences of failure.
Without the TSA, good times for airplane high-jackers and bombers alike. Whatever anecdotal evidence we hear about in TSA failures, the fact is their mere existence forces terrorists to look elsewhere for their targets. AQ may not fear death, but they certainly fear failure. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, it seemed as though a plane was being highjacked to Havana ever other week."The Havana Shuttle" they called it.
So the takeaway here is AQ may well try another "planes plot"?