I've ben reading a lot from news-sources all over the world about the bomb plot that got busted this morning.  There's been a lot of talk about how the terrorists wanted to blow up the planes and which methods they were planning to use.

There's an angle to it that not many people seem to be seeing or thinking about: the plan of the would-be-bombers wasn't instant anhialation.  They didn't want to blow the planes to smithereens over the Atlantic.

They wanted to cause enough of an explosion to cripple the aircraft.  They wanted the pilots to be able to make Mayday calls, they wanted the screams of the passengers to be heard in the background of those calls.  They wanted the American public to hear those screams, to think about the sheer terror those passengers and crew must have felt as they plunged to their certain deaths in the cold waters of the Atlantic ocean. 

Can you imagine that?  It was bad enough that we heard from and saw the people in the Twin Towers and on the flight that went down in Pennsylvania.  It was horrible to have to accept that entire fire department squads were killed trying to rescue people.  Thinking about it now gives me chills, and we're almost 5 years past that terrible day.

But can you imagine how you would react if they had achieved their goals of crippling those planes?  Can you imagine hearing those people screaming in terror, hearing the panic in the pilots voice?  Can you bear to think about what those passengers, trapped in a crippled aircraft and hurtling towards the ocean, would be thinking and feeling?

I can't.  It simply doesn't bear thinking about. 

Today's incident should be a reminder to us all that the war on terror isn't over.  It may never be over.  As long as there are Fascist Muslim sects, there will be people who hate America and what it represents enough to want to sacrifice their lives for their god and way of life.  As long as those sects exist, America and her citizens will always be targets of terrorists.

These people want to cause maximum psychological tramua to us.  Killing us simply isn't enough anymore.  Flying planes inot buildings is old hat - and airlines have responded to that particular threat and have made it difficult to achieve.  So, they've found a new way to hurt us.

They're living up to the label we've given them: terrorists.  They want to cause terror.  And they'll do it any way they can.