Yes, something very puzzling about talk of hijacking or "taking over the plane". The passengers are not going to sit down and allow that to happen. There's something else going on, perhaps it really is the pilots of these aircraft who have been compromised.
I don't see it either, unless they've got a sympathetic crew member...that's a nightmare. Not all islamic crazies have arabic sounding names...re: Richard Reid.
They went after the WTC twice .. and if they think they could pull it off, they'll try anything
I'm not so certain Coop. Sure, you and I know that the passengers would stand up and fight- but does al Qaeda? How do they know this? I mean, it hasn't been made an official policy or anything. If you're sitting in some stinking cave in Pakistan and you're planning this thing, what would be your impetus for thinking the passengers would put up a fight?
Second, this might not even be al Qaeda. This could be an 'also-ran' or a group that has the training but not the brains. We've been hammering away at al Qaeda for two years. Perhaps their serious planners and intel types that helped them put together such well coordinated operations like 9/11 are 'dead or otherwise accounted for'. Lot of people here figure Osama is dead. If he's dead and all his smart guys are out of the loop, maybe the ones they have left behind are not so smart and they figure they could get away with this.
I don't know, I just have a hard time applying rational thought to these nutjobs. I'm sure they're capable of it and I'm sure they try to figure out new and interesting ways to kill the Great Satan, but you always have to throw that 'Whacko Factor' into the mix.