First World Trade Center bombing 2/26/93 [View all]

[geralmar]

History, of course, is full of "what ifs". The following-- obviously pre-9/11-- is from Terror in the Mind of God, Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California, 2000.

If the amount of explosives in the truck had been just a little larger and the truck placed slightly differently in the basement parking area, it would have brought down an entire tower-- which most likely would have fallen sideways, destroying the second tower as well. Instead of six people killed, the number perished could easily have climbed to two hundred thousand. It would have included most of the fifty thousand workers and an equal number of visitors on-site at the World Trade Center on that fateful day, plus another hundred thousand workers in the surrounding buildings, which would have been destroyed if both towers fell. (p. 61-62)

Of course it didn't happen; but it does make the first bombing much more significant than we have been led to believe.