People still do not realize that bin Laden is a brilliantly creative psychopath - with vast resources, no honor, no regard for human life, no conscience whatever - who has managed to tap into fundamentalist religious fervor to further his aims.
People keep spoutin' 'bout 'bombing 'em back to the stone age' - but they are already there. I believe his intent is to have us join him, so that we no longer have the capability to wage a distant war. We have already witnessed his determination, and capacity for coordination and planning. It is highly likely that there are more agents already in place, with the requisite resources, to launch 'phase 2'.
Take out a large hydro-electric plant near Ca. Mass casualties from the incident itself, and further strain on the power grid. Release an obscure biologic with a long incubation period - by the time we have a clue, it is already over half the country. A few more incidents like these, and our emergency services infrastructure (fire, police, & natl. guard) would be nearly overwhelmed...making it much easier to target military command-and-control and logistics centers.
Along with this, wait until our ground forces are congregated in Afghanistan, and trigger two or three of his nukes. A large percentage of our active-duty military gone. One or two more spectacular successes along these lines, and the rest of the reactionary elements of Islam will begin to take a more active role.
Bizarre? Incredible? Yes...but so were the events of Tuesday. People need to understand. Without incredible diligence and circumspection, there will be massive civilian casualties here (50k to 1M+).