nce, the World Trade Center bombing was only marginally successful. Although the World Trade Center complex was occupied by tens of thousands of people at the time, only six were killed in the explosion. If the intent were to topple one of the Trade Center towers, the operation failed entirely. Those who carried it out received a certain amount of derision due to the errors that led to their early apprehension (e.g., one plotter had rented a van for the bomb, and was arrested when he returned to the rental office to demand the return of his deposit). Likewise, judged by conventional operational terms, the subsequent plot to bomb the United Nations and the highway tunnels into New York City was a total failure, since the operation was forestalled and the alleged plotters were arrested.
Nevertheless, as acts of communication, both operations, even the "failed" second one, were outstandingly successful. It is this communicative function, this study will suggest, that is the true function of terrorism, and the sources of its succ
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