Quayle's reasoning is that they are saving all their attacks for a single, huge, synchronized event. Pecking at the U.S. with piecemeal suicide/homocide bombers is not the major league killing event they wish to achieve. We know they can be strategic and patient in their planning and execution. The stadium constructed with embedded explosives is a testament to that patience and planning.
The kind of attack I would expect would include:
- Dirty radiological bombs at every west coast port to shut down our ability to import goods. This also nails sales to Europe that travel across the U.S. by truck and rail to be shipped from east coast ports to Europe. Remember the consequences of the longshoremen's strike?
- Destruction of domestic gasoline refineries and pipelines. That makes gasoline scarce and expensive. In time, nobody can get to work or purchase goods. It will take years to replace or repair the refineries. The ship caught in the lower Mississippi last year caused a delay of just a few days in delivering foreign refined gasoline. Supplies dwindled, prices rose. We run on a very thin margin. Diesel fuel and Jet A would likely be affected as well.
- Knock out key railroad bridges that supply coal to power plants. The effect would be delayed by the time required to consume the coal on the ground. After that, the power generation goes offline. There isn't sufficient capacity in the grid to compensate.
The Iranian's just published a list of 42 key vulnerabilities of the U.S. to an anti-U.S. Islamic conference. You can bet they didn't miss the above items.