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I really think it has more to do with the fact that many terrorists either are stupid, not careful enough or simultaneously do something else which makes authorities aware of a possible threat, contacting known extremists who are under surveillance or posting on extremist boards which are monitored by intelligence agencies for instance. And the fact that the United States actually aren't the target of a lot of Islamic terrorist attacks, to begin with.No, only a moron would think that. The US government is far better at detecting bomb plots like these before they happen than the Somali "state". The government basically has no control outside the capital, hell last time I checked they didn't even control the entire capital. Meanwhile the US even has your fucking porn history collected so they're pretty good at finding out when you purchase potentially dangerous materials necessary to make a bomb.
Even after 9'11, there were too many bombings or attempts of bombings which were not discovered because of the suspect's purchases in nations with government surveillance similar to the US, to really support the thesis that it's very difficult to pull it off.
The Madrid bombings, the '05 London bombings, the 2015 Paris attackers used multiple bombs at different locations, the Brussels bombings last year, the Manchester bombing this year, the low-IQ refugee in Germany who tried to enter a concert and blew himself up (didn't understand that he would need a ticket), a refugee child in Germany who had an explosive belt, the attack on a German soccer team with an explosive device (motive wasn't terrorism but still), several bombings in Turkey, the 2017 Barcelona attackers had tons of explosives and of course there were several folded terrorist plots where bombs were discovered after the suspects were arrested for other reasons.
France has very tight mass surveillance but a horrible track record when it comes to terrorist attacks.
That's only terrorism from the top of my head, in addition to that there is a series of ATM bombings in multiple Western countries and 'regular' criminals use improvised explosive devices for break-ins, bank heists, safes etc. In a way, you could also add shootings in Europe to the list because the perpetrators typically weren't allowed to purchase weapons either (and you have to engage in more severe criminal behavior to get an illegal machine gun than to build a bomb, in a way). Yet the deadliest mass shootings happened in Europe. The teenager who went on a shooting rampage in Munich simply visited some dark web shop, purchased his gun and had it delivered to his mail box a few days later.
I think an intelligent terrorist could build some small bombs with a small blasting agent, which will cause a lot of damage, maybe something like fragmentary bombs, then tactically place them in large crowds. But ISIS simply understood that their people typically aren't the second coming of Einstein and came to the conclusion that car rammings are the most efficient attacks. There are several documented cases of journalists who LARPed as refugees or terrorist sympathizers and contacted ISIS via forums, instant messengers etc They often said stuff like 'I'm going on a rampage with an ax, I'll bomb them, I'll shoot them' etc and they always discouraged them and told them to use a car instead. They would literally say 'no don't do that, use a truck, brother'