Originally Posted by Doppy
But quite the opposite was true: the attack required years of planning to get right. Thus, I don't buy the "lack of attack = no future danger" line of thinking.
Agreed. In general, Al Qaeda uses a different strategy than does, for example, Hamas.
Hamas will send out a poorly-trained person with instructions to blow himself up wherever he can find a good target. It will do this repeatedly, hoping that every so often one will succeed.
Al Qaeda does not follow this pattern. It prefers increasing its chances of success by using well-trained members and careful planning. At the same time, it has specific targets (and very often multiple, related, targets for simultaneous attacks).