[Poohbah]

I'm looking at it from the terrorists' POV for a second, explaining their motives.

Their goals:

1. Fly into the White House.

2. Kill a bunch of Americans. (Which would be achieved by Condition #1)

In wargaming terms, getting both #1 and #2 is, from the terrorists' POV, a decisive victory. Getting only #2 is, again from the bad guys' POV, a tactical victory. But it's still a victory. They succeeded in killing a bunch of Americans. Whether the Americans accomplished their own goals or not is irrelevant to the terrorists.

[habs4ever]

I think it has been confirmed by KSM and others from 2001 that the target was the Capitol Building, not the WH.