What was the significance other than the obvious harm to us forces of the terror attack on the uss cole in 2000

It demonstrated that bin Laden and al-Qaeda were not intimidated by the United States' reprisal for their terrorist acts.

americans had many intangible advantages. well since the british fought a war far from home military orders, troops, and supplies sometimes took months to reach their destinations, and the british had an extremely difficult objective. they had to persuade the americans to give up their claims of independence, americans had a grand cause: fighting for their rights, their independence and their liberty. this cause is much more just than waging a war to deny independence.