WI: The Bojinka Plot

What if in January of 1995, an Islamist terrorist group manages to execute the Pope and crash nearly a dozen passenger jets bound for the US, killing thousands, with at least one plane on a collision course with the CIA HQ in Virginia?

Such was the premise of the unsuccessful Bojinka Plot.

...but what would be some of the global political, economic, social, and military ramifications if such a horrific scheme was seen to fruition?
 
The plan was extremely poorly conceived. I can’t see it working.
Yeah, maybe you can pull off bumping off JP2 or Clinton, maybe a few passenger jets (though not at the same time as the assassinations). But people realize Langley is just an office complex in a region dotted with them?
 
The assassination of a Pope would be a pretty big deal though. I mean, I'm sure it happened at some point in Medieval/Rennaissance history but it hasn't happened for centuries*

*There is a conspiracy theory about John Paul I.
 
Yeah, maybe you can pull off bumping off JP2 or Clinton, maybe a few passenger jets (though not at the same time as the assassinations). But people realize Langley is just an office complex in a region dotted with them?

Yeah there's a reason Atta and KSM ruled out the CIA HQ as a target.

The airline bombings are the most plausible part, but a dozen of them is pushing it. It would also be a super escalatory action because a ton of the people killed would be non-American. Al-Qaeda may have had and continue to have a heck of a martyr complex, but back in the 1990s and early 2000s Bin Laden was intentionally not attacking China and other non-Islamic powers that didn't interfere much in the Middle East (like Japan) in order to limit the size of his enemies list. He would probably think this was a bit much.
 
Yeah there's a reason Atta and KSM ruled out the CIA HQ as a target.

The airline bombings are the most plausible part, but a dozen of them is pushing it. It would also be a super escalatory action because a ton of the people killed would be non-American. Al-Qaeda may have had and continue to have a heck of a martyr complex, but back in the 1990s and early 2000s Bin Laden was intentionally not attacking China and other non-Islamic powers that didn't interfere much in the Middle East (like Japan) in order to limit the size of his enemies list. He would probably think this was a bit much.

Siangkang-Uighur Autonomous Zone says "hi!"

To Osama's way of thinking, or at least that of his prized pupils, conceding any cubic centimeter of Dar-al-Islam is conceding all of it.

And while most of Malaysia and Indonesia is, (to Al Qaida's way of thinking) only nominally Suni Muslim, Minandao and Sulawesi are the exceptions that prove the rule. It's a virtual certainty they considered Japan's apology over "comfort women" to be utterly prefunctory.
 
"The assassination of a Pope would be a pretty big deal though. I mean, I'm sure it happened at some point in Medieval/Rennaissance history but it hasn't happened for centuries*
*There is a conspiracy theory about John Paul I."

There were at least two close-to-successful attempts on the Pontiff's life (1981 and 1982) and the Soviet intelligence apparatus mounted other unsuccessful operations.
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"But people realize Langley is just an office complex in a region dotted with them?"


CIA Headquarters may appear to be one among many office complexes in the WDC/NoVa area but architecture, aviation charts and various landmarks make it a very easily identifiable target.
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"The airline bombings are the most plausible part, but a dozen of them is pushing it. It would also be a super escalatory action because a ton of the people killed would be non-American."

Any worry about "escalation" to include non-U.S. citizens was obviated when the Towers were attacked on 11 September and citizens of more than 91 nations were among the dead.
 
Siangkang-Uighur Autonomous Zone says "hi!"

To Osama's way of thinking, or at least that of his prized pupils, conceding any cubic centimeter of Dar-al-Islam is conceding all of it.

And while most of Malaysia and Indonesia is, (to Al Qaida's way of thinking) only nominally Suni Muslim, Minandao and Sulawesi are the exceptions that prove the rule. It's a virtual certainty they considered Japan's apology over "comfort women" to be utterly prefunctory.

Long term (in the sense of centuries) yes I’m sure they wanted to take the fight there, but in the short to medium term they consciously didn’t piss them off.
 
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