re: terrorism and war
"If what you say is true, then shouldn't the question arise why those 9-11 suicide planes bypassed potential targets which might have caused much more death and destruction? "
I don't want to discuss what would a better target, but they were interested in symbolism, and hitting a precise target as building with more than 10 thousand people in them, seems like enough death and destruction.
I would say that OBL really wanted to be at war with the US. He was trying to do this. I think that he finally succeeded in getting us to declare war on him.