DBWI: NYC attack instead of V-Day attacks

What if al-qaeda attacked New York instead of Tel Aviv and Moscow? How would America be affected, for failed and successful attacks? In absense of V-Day attacks, how would Russia and Israel politics look like? And what are ramifications for Central Asia+ East Europe and North Africa + Middle East?
 
OOC: This might be a bit too close to regular history, maybe sohuld go into the future history forum.

Well, no second invasion of Afghanistan by Russia for starters. The US would put serious ramifications on Saudi Arabia, like Russia did after the attacks.

But why NYC? I mean, they flew passenger planes into the Kremlin for crying out loud. What would they attack? The statue of liberty? Hardly the same impact. Try DC instead. Pentagon, White house.
 

no one

Banned
well, since Zhirinovsky's insane ideas gained support after V Day in Russia, who would be the American counterpart?
 
Why would Al Qaeda and the Taliban attack the United States? It was the Russians who kept up the war in Afghanistan even after the Soviets went the way of the dodo. That and their insistence on cracking down on Muslim nations that caused the V-Day attacks.
 
Why would Al Qaeda and the Taliban attack the United States? It was the Russians who kept up the war in Afghanistan even after the Soviets went the way of the dodo. That and their insistence on cracking down on Muslim nations that caused the V-Day attacks.

This. Hell, the less extreme Islamists actually speak somewhat positively of The US despite out "misbeliever" status for the material aid and protection we provided the Muslims of Kosovo and Bosnia against the Moscow-backed Serb ultra nationalists during the Yugoslav breakup and our support of the Muslim Brotherhood's Velvet Revolution in Egypt. Maybe if the terrorist factions were Shia?
 
But why NYC? I mean, they flew passenger planes into the Kremlin for crying out loud. What would they attack? The statue of liberty? Hardly the same impact. Try DC instead. Pentagon, White house.

Well if you think that the terrorists would just be motivated by hate for American freedom or someting, that might make sense. But if they wanted to send a message about US economic dominance, I could think of a few things in NYC that they could hit.
 
How would America be affected, for failed and successful attacks?

Bad news for Pat Buchanan and company. OTL, they were able to put together a fair-sized following by preaching that America needs to stay out of the war, because who cares if the Zionists get a bit of blowback for their years of vicious military, cultural, and religious assaults on Christendom, and if Russia gets a bloody nose in the process, well, guess the commies should have thought of that before invading Afghanistan.

But if it's AMERICA under attack, that changes everything. We probably wouldn't have seen the isolationists get as far as they did politically OTL. The America Now ticket likely wouldn't have been a spoiler in 2004, for example.
 
I could see Russia having a lot less influence and America gaining more with it playing an active role in world conflicts. The situation in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine could also change...
 
Well if you think that the terrorists would just be motivated by hate for American freedom or someting, that might make sense. But if they wanted to send a message about US economic dominance, I could think of a few things in NYC that they could hit.

wall street?
 
Yeah, I was thinking the NYSE or something like that. Heck, with memories of the tech bubble still fresh in everyone's mind, maybe they'd hit NASDAQ.

right, but would they use planes like in Moscow? Because they flew really low to hit the Kremlin congress building, the NYSE is really hard to hit specifically with a plane. of course a car bomb is much harder to arrange. if they'd do it they'd do it good and use planes. But in NYC, only the Empire State building comes to mind as an easy target, or the WTC but those are 2 towers. Gonna need 2 planes for that...
 
right, but would they use planes like in Moscow? Because they flew really low to hit the Kremlin congress building, the NYSE is really hard to hit specifically with a plane. of course a car bomb is much harder to arrange. if they'd do it they'd do it good and use planes. But in NYC, only the Empire State building comes to mind as an easy target, or the WTC but those are 2 towers. Gonna need 2 planes for that...
I almost forgot that they tried to attack WTC in '93, they wouldn't pick the same target again since they went a step further and changed target continents OTL!
 
I think we're all forgetting about New York's skyline. Hypothetically a Boeing 747 crashing in to an skyscraper could lead to tens of thousands dead due to structural collapse and fires.
 
Taking out bridges would really be the way to go; possibly the George Washington and Alexander Hamilton bridges. That would cause a severe economic and psychological blow. And, its something that doesn't have a quick fix, you'd need 3 to 5 years to re-build safe stable bridges. Yes, they aren't "glamorous" targets, but still...
 
I think we're all forgetting about New York's skyline. Hypothetically a Boeing 747 crashing in to an skyscraper could lead to tens of thousands dead due to structural collapse and fires.

right, right. Could be the UN building. But as said they want to attack the economical buildings, so i can't think of any other than the Empire State. Or else DC.
 
Destroying the Empire State building Would’ve been very difficult it is built very strongly out of steel and during World War II it was hit by a bomber crashing into it I think in 1945. The building was open for business on most of the floors two days later. This incident actually created The minimum flying altitude for the city.
 
How could you forget Tancredo?
Wasn't he floated as a potential pick for Secretary of State after Mitt Romney won against VP Edwards in 2012? Thank God he went with Huntsman instead. Not to drift into current politics, but I hope he loses his Senate seat when he's up for re-election in 2020.
 
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