The Germans report that Ata and others planned the attacks while at an electrical engineering school in Germany and so far no connection to bin Laden has been found. That a small, smart, talented group could conceive and carry out the attacks may be inconceivable to those who believe in massive, overwhelming power, is apt indication of the long-livenedness of those who just don't buy the effectiveness of guerillas working in tiny cells and executing non-heirachical operations. The oft-cited Clauzewitz and Lao Tsu have misled planners now for a generation, a generation hoping to erase Viet Nam, Cuba, Ceylon, and a plethora of asymmetrical victories. "Lessons learned," is a favorite phrase now used by giant organizations to figure out why best laid plans failed. Still, the giant organizations continue to perpetuate themselves by arguing the virtues of massive retaliation and minimizing their ineffectivenss at prevention of what they rush to avenge, wildly attacking targets but never reaching disappearing attackers hiding in the underbrush near homebases. Whether the lessons learned in this case will prevent massive overwhelming attacks on foreign and domestic innocents is a lesson yet to be learned, and learned, and learned. But no matter what, the display of force will give comfort to scared shitless believers in idiotic concepts of good and evil hiding venal intentions. Would Clinton have APed bin Laden if the disappearing devil was found hiding in NY's Metropolitan Detention Center or elsewhere in the USA or Germany under a false dentity? Who's allegedly under house arrest in Afghanistan? Not Osama, who is nowhere near where the oil pipelines are to be built. See the UK Ministry of Defense's analysis of why an Afghan coup is needed to update the overthrow of Iran by MI6 and CIA in 1953: http://cryptome.org/afghan-coup.htm