Some experts believe the recent spate of virulent bugs was a terrorist warm-up for much worse to come, just as the U.S.S. Cole attack preceded Sept. 11.
Now, this point may seem unremarkable, but think back to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and to the attacks on Khobar Towers in 1996, on the U.S. East African embassies in '98, on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in 2000.
Seventeen U.S. sailors died in a terrorist attack on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen 13 months ago that U.S. officials suspect may have been connected with al Qaeda.