Posted on 09/11/2001 5:15:20 PM PDT by Map Kernow
THE pilots of the four hijacked aircraft were probably murdered before their planes were diverted on their devastating suicide missions, terrorism experts speculated.
No fewer than 30 highly-trained renegades - some 'graduates' of a secret school of terrorism - would have been involved in the extraordinarily well synchronised series of deadly attacks.
As experts pieced together their audacious operation, it was clear that no pilot would have steered their plane into a building packed with people.
Instead, it is possible they were shot dead in the cockpit and their seats taken by terrorists with at least a rudimentary ability to manoeuvre the jets into their devastating suicide flight paths.
But there was also speculation the pilots realised the full horror of what was going to happen and tried to do something to stop it. This might explain why the United Airlines plane from Newark crashed into a wood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, rather than a city landmark.
Either way, experts were agog at how four planes were able to be hijacked at the same time.
Details of an operation that was as technically outstanding as it was horrific will no doubt emerge in the coming days.
Mike Yardley, a terrorism expert and former army officer, said: "This is a stunning security and intelligence failure. In both those spheres, major errors have evidently occurred. Heads should roll.
"One could have conceived of one or even a couple of planes being hijacked, but to coordinate the hijack of four or more is absolutely extraordinary.
"Intelligence agencies should have picked up some warning."
The terrorists' operation could have been years in the planning and would have almost certainly involved cooperation from men on the ground.
Hijack expert Dr John Potter said the suicide hijackers could have attended a secret school of hijack training.
"It is quite possible that those involved were graduates of that training school, wherever it might be. There is a suspicion it exists somewhere," he said.
Those involved on the ground may have been airport staff who were 'sleepers' - terrorists prepared to bide their time before striking.
"People might have infiltrated into aviation systems years ago and then merely waited to ensure that all the attacks worked," said Kieran Daly, editor of the Air Transport Intelligence Internet news service.
Modern weapons made from materials other than plastic may also have been used to avoid detection at airport terminals.
And the fact that all the hijacked planes were domestic flights made it easier for the terrorists, who would have struggled to hijack an international airliner.
Yup. I heard Armey say that and that was exactly my take on it too! Shot down by US!!
I agree. It's easy to play "Rambo" sitting at a keyboard. No one on those flights had an inkling of the satanic designs of the terrorist conspirators except the conspirators themselves, and we have only a vague idea of how the hijackings developed in any case.
Everybody then: Out of respect for the innocent people who died in the terrorist crashes, no more Delta Force-wannabe stuff about how you would've taken out each and every one of those knife-wieldin' fellers, etc.
Exactly. I do not think that we will ever assume that a skyjacking will turn out to be a 'mere inconvenience' again.
This is really weird isn't it? All these dead people, and all they had were knives? Maybe they really did go right through security, without any problems. Who knows?
OK. So you're saying that after seeing this, All the passengers on ALL of the planes dead, and ALL the destruction and death in New York, that if you're in a similar situation you're merely gonna roll over for the b*stards? I'd like to think at least SOME of us will have more cajones than that.
That must have been one heck of a bowel movement!
Once should be enough. Are you trying to tell me that if someone hijacked your flight, and said 'Don't worry, we're not going to pull a New York mission' you're actually gonna BELIVE them?? I've got some wetlands in Florida, just for you.
Works for me...
I didn't say that you would automatically succeed, but after this, if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, obviously you can't bet that the hijackers DONT have a similar mission in mind. Copy cat attempts are sure to follow.
It's hard to say, hard to say.
Glad to hear it... Perhaps it worked for the Pennsylvania flight, too. Someone in one of these threads guessed that this one was headed for a nuclear power plant. Maybe some 'Rambo' on board SAVED a bunch of lives today.
Combat Air Patrols over D.C./ Maryland, armed with long range guided missiles could have easily sprinted to intercept.
...obviously, the REAL cause faulty wiring in the airplaines' center fuel tanks... /sarcasm
Possibly 20,000 dead. I would hope that, should a similar scenario ever play out in the future, that KNIVES would not stop passengers from taking action. After this, I really think that there would be at least a percentage of the passengers that would say to themselves, 'I'm liable to die anyway, why not at least TRY to stop these b*stards and prevent another New York??'
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