From the mailbag: The Republicans are scurrying around saying the August 2001 memo isn’t a smoking gun; it’s not even a “cold” gun. Here’s why New Yorkers will disagree…
Rice says there way no way they could have prevented the 9-11 hijackings. Maybe that’s true, maybe that’s not. But if they did their jobs, they would have saved the better part of one thousand lives on that fateful day. If Bush et al had publicly acknowledged the terrorism threat, here’s what would have happened in New York City on September 11, 2001.
The North Tower at the World Trade Center would have been hit, and all those people who died there would have died there anyway. But the people in the South Tower, who (like the rest of us who were familiar with the story) immediately thought of the time an airplane hit the Empire State Building at the end of World War II would have instead thought there was the possibility this event was a terrorist attack. After all, the North Tower attack was the second made on the WTC; the parking garage was blown up eight years earlier. SOME of the people in the North Tower would have evacuated immediately; the lemmings effect would have caused more people to leave. As the word spread about the effect of the North Tower crash, still others would have left within those 30 minutes.
The police and firemen would have approached the situation differently; they probably wouldn’t have entered the South Tower in force, if at all. It’s probable that most of he guys who rushed into the North Tower would have done so anyway, I regret to say.
A great many lives would have been saved, if only Bush and his masters took the August 2001 memo seriously. But now they tell us there was no smoking gun.
They’re right. It’s not a smoking gun. It’s a smoking tower.
My correspondent doesn’t go nearly far enough. If there had been any sort of people doing their jobs, fighter jets would have been in the air in time to not only stop the South Tower from being hit, but quite possibly the North as well. Certainly the Pentagon.
Or, if you like, they could have hardened the cockpit doors to attack in a month’s time– lord knows that they did it in under a month’s time after the fact.
Actually I’m not too fond of the idea of remaking the cockpit of a plane to keep people out. In the wake of 9/11, I tend to think that passengers are more likely to resist hijackers. Just look at the passengers that overpowered the wacko who tried to light up his shoe. But that doesn’t do any good if the jerks manage to get into a fortress that’s tailor-made to prevent the plane being re-taken. I suspect that if hijackers have enough guile or are ruthless enough, they could gain entry…and then they just have to lock themselves in and start of Phase 2 of whatever Grand Plan they’re working on.
Aww, Glenn, I’m completely disappointed. Lately I’ve notice just lackluster attempts at putting down the administrations from Bush haters.
Intellectual honesty, at least, should let anyone realize that a month is not time for the government to do anything, let alone preparing for a possible attack that may or may not have ever come.
Furthermore, all anyone has to do to see how people would react to such directives that everyone thinks should have been so obvious is to listen to people when they announce the terror warnings we have now. And We KNOW there’s been an attack of that magnitude before and we’re bitching as a country.
I mean, I’m sure it’s nice to look back with the advantage 20/20 hindsight and to speak with such confidence about what SHOULD have been done to prevent 9/11. But I’ll bet the Glen Hauman adminstration would have been caught with it’s figurative pants down around the toilet bowl as well. Especially with only 30 days to get low priority security changes through congress in the first place.
“Intellectual honesty, at least, should let anyone realize that a month is not time for the government to do anything…”
Maybe, but hey– I would have like to see them, maybe, y’know, get started? One barricaded door out of four planes, and you get at least 70 lives saved plus real live 9/11 collaborators to interview.
Heck, if you don’t like that argument, how about the old “what took the F-16s so long to respond on the day?” Or is it too much to hope that the Air Force maintains combat readiness?
Or is it too much to hope that the Air Force maintains combat readiness?
With a president in office that was supposedly a combat pilot?
Yes, it’s obviously asking too much.
Maybe, but hey– I would have like to see them, maybe, y’know, get started? One barricaded door out of four planes, and you get at least 70 lives saved plus real live 9/11 collaborators to interview.
That would be a private company decision wouldn’t it? This isn’t Moscow, or Israel. The US doesn’t own the aircraft. Congress would of course have to appropriate the money to do the upgrades, and you can be assured the debate on that alone would have still been in progreess a month AFTER 9/11. Want to try again?
Heck, if you don’t like that argument, how about the old “what took the F-16s so long to respond on the day?” Or is it too much to hope that the Air Force maintains combat readiness?
Or maybe like most people, when the first plane hit the first tower, no one knew there was a second? Or that the first plane wasn’t just an accident? Maybe you should blame the people in the second tower for not getting out before the second plane hit the second tower while you’re at it.
Or maybe like most people, when the first plane hit the first tower, no one knew there was a second? Or that the first plane wasn’t just an accident?
Just out of curiosity, have you taken a look at the timeline of the day? There’s a nice one at http://www.911timeline.net/; read it and then let’s talk.
Just out of curiosity, have you taken a look at the timeline of the day? There’s a nice one at http://www.911timeline.net/; read it and then let’s talk.
I took a look at it and while interesting, I don’t exactly get your point. Perhaps you could point out exactly what you find so damning. There were a lot of mistakes on the part of a lot of people and somehow this is all Bush’s fault seems to be what you’re saying.
The problem I have with all of these scenarios is that Bush is supposed to be so incompetent and stupid, but yet he masterfully masterminded this intricate bit of conspiracy to destroy 4 planes, and three buildings … for what?
But you know…. just weeks before all this transpired I was fired from my job. Hmm…