Tuesday, 11 September 2001 : "hoagland"

Before the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Scotland, terrorists usually proudly claimed "credit" for themselves and their causes. They established proof of their responsibility and explained why it was necessary to shock the world with extreme actions.

Now the terrorist style is to remain silent, count on the United States to treat the attack not as an act of war but as a legal matter for world tribunals to resolve (as it did with Pan Am 103) or to launch poorly conceived pinprick responses by cruise missiles (as it did for the 1998 embassy bombings). The hidden hand and those who manipulate it now remain in the shadows to escape direct retaliation.