> We never had an event of that level of devastation BEFORE 9/11 either. I understand there's some nuance to what you're saying, so I'm not necessarily disagre

> We never had an event of that level of devastation BEFORE 9/11 either. I understand there's some nuance to what you're saying, so I'm not necessarily disagreeing with it, but I will bring up the attack on Pearl Harbor as an example of a surprise event with a similar loss of life. Somewhat further afield are civil war battles where the losses were even higher. I don't mean to minimize the gravity or impact of the 9/11 attacks, and I fully agree everything else you said.