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What if Ramzi Yousef & Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had managed to carry out the most extreme version of their Bojinka plot in 1995?
  • On January 15, Pope John Paul II is killed by a suicide bomber during a visit to the Philippines
  • One week later, 11 U.S. bound airliners simultaneously explode over the Pacific Ocean
  • During the ensuing chaos, several hijacked domestic flights are used in 9/11-style suicide attacks against targets in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago
I don't want to inadvertently tread into ASB territory, but let's assume for the sake of discussion that we have a worst-case scenario in which just about everything works in the plotters' favor (e.g. more volunteers, no apartment fire, infighting between intelligence agencies, etc.)

tl;dr - What if a "super 9/11" is successfully carried out earlier?

I think this makes an interesting what-if because...

  • Differences in the Clinton v.s. Bush administration
  • Differences in the cultural and geopolitical situation of 1995 v.s. 2001
  • The increased severity of the attacks
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