were SANE. If they are not, they are merely committing mass suicide for themselves and the fanatics that may follow.

If they were sane, my reasoning goes something like this. The Afghanistani rebels who "whooped" the big bad super power - the former Soviet Union - actually believe that they were responsible for the fall of communism. A preposterous notion for anyone who knows anything at all about the former Soviet Union... but let's just say that these folks (war torn, broke, illiterate, with no televisions, radios, easiely manipulated, etc...) believe this is true, because they are told this by their government... They have this notion that if they goad the "great satan" into war by blowing up symbols of their financial and military power (and probably the Pittsburgh plane was headed for the Capitol or White House), that they can rally the entire Muslim nations behind their "Jihad" (again, a foolish notion - millitarily, all of the Islamic countries combined pose little to no threat to a determined NATO, let alone atomic/neutron bomb if too many soldiers showed up)... No, I have to think that these fundamentalists truly believe that they are truly representing Islam and that the "others" will be enlightened and join in...

Or else, they really are just suicidal maniacs...