While a full-scale investigation is under way to track down the culprit of the blasts that shocked the world, ISU political experts say the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden appears to be at fault.

More then a dozen hijackers of Middle Eastern descent that can be linked to bin Laden’s network, al Qaeda, and other terrorist networks have been identified by federal authorities in Tuesday’s attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., law enforcement officials said.

The biggest difference between Tuesday’s attack and other terrorist attacks is the magnitude.

“To hijack four planes at once is remarkable,” said James McCormick, chairman and professor of political science. “They used fairly low technology to cause such distraction.”

McCormick, an expert on terrorism, said the attack was well-coordinated and intricately planned.

“Osama bin Laden has had his sights on the U.S. for some time,” he said. “By the nature of the attack, it looks like it has been planned for months or years.”

Despite the preliminary indications that bin Laden may have been involved, other terrorist organizations have not been ruled out.

“I have to assume the attack was by bin Laden – the threats and characteristics of the attack look like him,” said Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science. “Palestinians were celebrating [Tuesday] morning, throwing candy and saying how good everything was.”

Only about four groups have the ability and desire to do what happened, bin Laden’s group being one of them, Schmidt said.

“The signs point to [bin Laden] – he seems to be a reasonable guess,” he said.

“Bin Laden said it would be a bloody fall in the U.S.,” Schmidt said.

“He said he wanted to inflict a lot of pain on the United States and it would be a 911 situation on us. The event happened on 9/11.”

Attorney General John Ashcroft has said there are numerous promising leads.

Terrorists often don’t have military means to attack the U.S., said Joseph Hraba, professor of sociology.

“[Terrorists] hope to accomplish a lot and go in with high expectations,” he said. “These are people with grievances who aren’t in the position to express grievances in other ways, or so they think.”

The goal of a terrorist is to cause as much damage as possible, McCormick said.

“It raises questions of our own government, if we can protect our own citizens,” he said, “and it raises doubts in the citizens on if we can get protection from our government.”

A terrorist wants to change the behavior of a government, and the government wants to change its behavior so another attack doesn’t happen, McCormick said.

“Terrorism is an action taken to instill fear in a population for a political end,” he said. “Terrorists hope to gain as much publicity as possible.”

Although the terrorists often have political motives for what they do, media coverage is an incentive, McCormick said.

“The media provides a mechanism for the most amount of exposure,” he said.

-The Associated Press contributed to this article.