This was long before 9/11. Obviously, it was purely a fantasy thing (there’s no way some amateur teenage Guy Fawkes-wannabe could’ve single handedly pulled off what a major terrorist organisation spent years rigorously planning). However, I do find it interesting how manic minds think alike — even if their ideology is completely different.
The use of airplanes in terrorist attacks wasn’t a novel idea.
The Metro Toronto conducted a disaster preparedness exercise for a mass casualty event which included a plane crashing into a chlorine facility. That was the late 80s or early 90s.
There were foiled plots to crash a plane into the Eifel tower and the CIA buildings in the 1990s. There were quite a few airplane bombings in the 80s and 90s, including the Air India bombing in 1985.
(Getting old is weird af, lol. It’s strange watching context dissolve from the collective memory).
Not to mention the bojinka plot, of which 9/11 sprang from.
The use of airplanes in terrorist attacks wasn’t a novel idea
Well no, of course it was not unheard of. After all, Japan famously used kamikaze pilots in WW2 (they weren’t labelled as ‘terrorists’ but it’s the same idea, really.) In fact, I read once that during the pearl harbour attack (which occurred before Kamikaze pilots were used), one of the Japanese pilots said that if they ran into trouble, they would purposely crash their plane to cause maximum damage, which is considered the first ‘unofficial’ kamikaze attack in history and makes the nickname ‘the New Pearl Harbour’ for 9/11 even more apt.
What makes this case different to the others though is the explicit desire to target New York. Like I said, manic minds think alike, all throughout history. Or maybe manic minds are inspired by other, older manic minds, Idk.
