[John H K]

Yeah....

After Pearl Harbor, which was pretty much a 9/11 equivalent in a lot of ways psychologically, even though the targets were military, the US media was filled with lurid scenarios about what the Japs were going to do to the West Coast; respected magazines had elaborate maps and diagrams of how the Japanese were going to invade, people were claiming to sight Japanese invasion fleets every day off the coast of California, etc.

In reality, of course, not only did the Japanese not invade the mainland US, they never even THOUGHT about it, realizing the impossibility of it. They never even had a serious plan to invade Hawaii, even though there were some very preliminary staff studies on it.

All they managed was to shell a few refineries in California from the deck guns of submarines, and that Rube Goldberg balloon incendiary thing (which unfortunately ended up killing some kids in Oregon, I believe.) There was a plan for suicide Seaplane bombing of refineries in the Gulf that never came off, I think.

Anyway, point is 99.999999% of these stories are going to end up being bogus, despite there being one rather unusual attack being successful.

[AmericaUnited]

That's right John. But our enemies do love to sow fear into the minds of the feeble. Just say NO :)

[MizSterious]

You are mistaken that the Japenese never thought about invading the U.S. In fact, they did, and in some cases tried, but were thwarted by U.S. agents, one of which was my grandfather. (I still have his commendation from the President and letters he received in praise of his work.) Much was stopped that the rest of the country never heard about, from railroad sabotage to submarine incursions--not just from the Japanese, but also from the Germans.

[ALASKA]

Anyway, point is 99.999999% of these stories are going to end up being bogus, despite there being one rather unusual attack being successful.

Exactly the goal of terrorism, instill fear and uncertainty in people.