It was a relatively small death toll, I agree. It's the impact that it had on world as a whole. The visibility of the event, and the fact that the most powerful country in the world was blindsided, is what shook the world. We used to be able to carry shampoo in their original bottles onto planes. Our children and elderly were never "felt up" by the TSA, in fact the TSA didn't even exist. Its just one of those events in history that forced society in a new direction.