1/ Many are saying today's NY terror attack failed because it didn't kill anyone. This ignores the fact that the purpose of terror attacks is not to kill, but to warn us that jihadis still exist and still hate us. Given all the tweets about it, today's attack was a success.
He was surely aware that the damage he could do was limited by the quantity and concentration of his explosives, which wouldn't have killed more than a few dozen people. When I said devastating, I was talking 9/11 scale.