ABSTRACT
The psychological sense that this was an act of war is founded on the extraordinary de structiveness of the act. In the past, even terrorism has evinced an implicit set of expecta tions-using violence to intim idate or gain publicity, targeting civilians so as to underm ine the confidence placed in organized authority, but generally stopping short of this irrational m agnitude of destruction. Only nihilism m ight seem to explain a scale of wreckage that serves no programmatic dem ands or political ambition.
