(some of) What They Knew

by SixofNine 19 Replies latest social current

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  SixofNine

  In a post recently, I made the statement regarding 9/11: "strong cockpit doors and a directive to pilots not to open them under any circumstances.... and 9/11 doesn't happen", or words to that effect. Someone responded that "hindsite is easy, isn't it?", infering that it would be asking too much to imagine that anyone could have been steps ahead of the terrorist.

  Well look at this (from June 2003) ; it turns out some high-ranking officials did make sure that they were steps ahead of the terrorist, and if you were very, very, very clever, and also just happened to pay attention to CBS news, you and your loved ones could have been one step ahead of the terrorist too.
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  FlyingHighNow

  It's infuriating when you think about them knowing and not doing the things you mentioned or even grounding the planes until they figured out how to proceed securely.

  Are they flying commercial now? That would be interesting to know.

  Thank you for the article. It was eye opening.

  Flyin'
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  Mulan

  Thanks, Mark. I hadn't seen that, but Richard Clark has been all over the news of course. Very interesting stuff.

  Reminds me of the stories about FDR knowing about Pearl Harbor in advance.
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  talesin

  Vaguely ... I remember this from a CBC broadcast. They have an excellent forum on Sunday mornings, w/ feature news stories and documentaries. There was a discussion of this very topic. We get a lot of news items here (via CBC) that are glossed over by the mainstream US and Cdn. media.

  I find this very disturbing. As I have relatives spread over New England, and we are just a stone's throw away, the terrorist actions and threats affect me and mine. My cousin flies out of Newark several times a month, and he was travelling on 9/11. It was scary on a very personal level. Hundreds of Americans were stranded here for days, not knowing if it was safe to try and get home. After watching 3,000 people die before my very eyes (yes, I was watching the tube that morning), I was shaken for days. It was a sad time.

  As a Canadian, I can only write my Member of Parliament to express my views, attend the local peace rallies, try to create all the positive energy I can.

  If I was American, I would be OUTRAGED that my Commander In Chief did nothing to protect/warn my country against what he knew was a very real terrorist threat. After that, he had the cojones to 'invent' imminent danger from Iraq. How many US service personnel will have to die to satisfy this vendetta?

  And where is Bin Laden?

  What will it take for people to wake up to the abuses of power being generated by the corporate lackey (shrub) and his minions. I am oh so happy that Canada stayed out of this armed conflict invasion.

  talesin

  ** donning flame-retardant suit **
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  Gopher

  Thanks for posting that, six.

  It is sickening that the current administration evidently had very little regard for the welfare of the common people.

  They should have ratcheted up the security at all airports immediately, similar to what the "Office of Homeland Security" does now when they issue their variety of "colored" warnings (orange alert!!).

  Now that the airports and planes are more secure, one wonders which target the terrorists will choose next to try to disrupt America. The buses? The trains?

  Whatever the threat is, the leaders of our government had better listen to people like the Minneapolis FBI agent who had tried to put the threats to America's safety front and center BEFORE the terrorists struck.

  I'm getting very tired of the self-serving excuses and ducking of the current administration. We'll see if enough Americans feel the same way one Tuesday this November.
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  Satanus

  Those four planes went off transponder, and for one and a quarter hours, there was absolutely no response from norad, to which air traffic controlers report. Air force bases made absolutely no responses for 1 1/4 hrs. That means some of those jets flew around aimlessly for a while, w no alert being given. One was headed toward the whitehouse, then vered off. Still no response. Ordinarily, this would be strange, but in view of the above news that there was already an alert in effect prior to this, well, let's say that i'm not convinced of the govt's story.

  SS
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  buffalosrfree

  Reading some of this I am surprised, but then again not, it seems if this administration heard something to the tune of you aregoing to be attackedand it has something to do with planes, And they had bracketed up all major airfields and left many, many, many thousands of travelers stuck where they are to seek other means of transportation then we would have had a field day jumping on the administration, the airline industry would have failed as they wouldn't be able to fly, and therefore wouldn't be making any money, same for all airfields and personnel working in them. The industry would have stalled, out, and if nothing had happened for months. The american people would have wanted Bush, Ashcroft, etal to be sacrificed on the nearest altar so to speak. Catch 22 damed if they did, and damed if they didn't.

  We hear these reports of planned, suspected terrorist attacks on almost a weekly basis, what is it you want done, put the country into a state of siege? Dismiss all civil rights etc. what?

  They knew something, oh really, other than a threat to attack us which i'm sure happens all the time, it probably wasn't detailed enough to make a decisive plan of any kind, so sitting here and jumping on this or any other administration is an exercise in futility.

  As far as Ashcroft not flying on commercial or being at the mercy of Airline Schedules may have been one excuse or outright cowardice another who knows. But what if frogs had wings doesn't put wings on a frog and setting here and going over all this B.S. doesn't help the current situation (whatever it is) either.

  Whatever analysis of the situation they had, it was a very incomplete picture, we should learn from mistakes not burn at the stake any who made them. This administration had one hell of a situation to handle after 9/11 and they handled it, the best, they knew how, so quit crying for christsakes.

  Iraq was also mentioned, well i wish i had all the intelligence and insight that some of you who are expressing disapraging views on this administration have.

  Oh don't get me wrong I dont much like this administration, but then again I don't like Kerry either. When i feel like having pancakes for breakfast/waffles then i will read some of what Kerry (the waffler) has to say.
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  Flowerpetal

  It will be interesting to watch the Democrat National Convention and fun. Who knows, there might be someone else (would that entail a fight on the floor?) that might arise to contend with Kerry for the presidential candidate?
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  SixofNine

  Reading some of this I am surprised, but then again not, it seems if this administration heard something to the tune of you aregoing to be attackedand it has something to do with planes, And they had bracketed up all major airfields and left many, many, many thousands of travelers stuck where they are to seek other means of transportation then we would have had a field day jumping on the administration, the airline industry would have failed as they wouldn't be able to fly, and therefore wouldn't be making any money, same for all airfields and personnel working in them. The industry would have stalled, out, and if nothing had happened for months. The american people would have wanted Bush, Ashcroft, etal to be sacrificed on the nearest altar so to speak. Catch 22 damed if they did, and damed if they didn't.

  Absolute poppycock. If you know that the number one threat to America, Al Queda, is in full *go* mode to attack, and you know that one of the ways they want to attack is to use planes, then NO, YOU DO NOT HAVE A CATCH 22 on your hands, you have work to do.

  There were many things the people charged with national security could do the least of which is to communicate between agencies and warn the travel industry people and put the American people on the alert. Perhaps "profiling' would've started a firestorm, but if you put the fear of Allah in people, say, people working security at checkpoints (and their bosses), people will tend to do their own profiling, and in an emergency situation that is a good thing.

  The airlines? Well they survived somehow didn't they? Worse for wear and at great expense, yes, but I can still catch a plane to NYC.

  In a post recently, I made the statement regarding 9/11: "strong cockpit doors and a directive to pilots not to open them under any circumstances.... and 9/11 doesn't happen",

  Also, they could have banned pocket knives and box cutters and such. As I pointed out in another thread, within an hour of watching the towers burn, I had figured out exactly how the hi-jackers had operated. And my name isn't even Condi.
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  Euphemism

  C'mon, Six. This threat assessment was in July. Do you honestly think that the airline industry--and the public--would have put up with being put on high alert for two months, in the pre-9/11 world?