Posted on 09/13/2001 6:23:07 AM PDT by Barak
If I were the guy coordinating all this, I would have predicted the FAA shutdown of airports, and I would have another caper planned for when the airports reopen.
I would also have predicted the resumption of the practice of putting plainclothes armed sky marshals on all hijackable flights. Therefore, during the training for this series of events, I would have selected my most ideologically zealous and least technically proficient trainee. When flights resume, I would schedule him along with another suicide team on a cross-country airliner.
His job, once the flight got going, would be to jump out of his seat, wave a big knife, and holler "Allahu akhbar! Allahu akhbar!" a few times. The plainclothes sky marshal would deal with him quickly and expertly, thus marking himself, whereupon the rest of the team would fall on him and subdue or kill him, taking his weapon.
Then, of course, they would head for the cockpit, carrying an aerial photograph of the Sears Tower or the Capitol Building.
Imagine what it would do to morale in this country if the FAA reopened airports and twelve hours later another dozen thousand people were killed. Imagine what it would do to the economy when the FAA regrounded all flights for another two or three weeks.
That's what I'd do if I were running this show.
Here's something else: crack rescue teams from all over the world are arriving in Lower Manhattan. The best of the best from the US, from Israel, from Europe--they're all either there or on their way. We've seen on TV that when the building collapses killed some of the higher-ranking rescue folks, their subordinates had some trouble figuring out what to do, but that's being ameliorated as the world's finest arrive from all directions.
Today or tomorrow would be an excellent day to send in a few ambulances or dump trucks loaded with explosives and staffed by rescue-worker lookalikes--perhaps even Arabic-looking folks who proclaim their horror at the atrocity and demand to be let in to help atone for the sins of their countrymen. Maybe even a small nuclear weapon purchased from Russia: bin Laden's got the money, and Russia would be glad to take it.
Not only would that be another morale victory for him, but it would severely cripple this country's fire-and-rescue capability, so that the follow-on attacks (what--you thought it was over?) are able to kill many more people than they would have otherwise.
That's what I'll be looking for.
Bear something in mind. When travel resumes, combat air patrols will be in the air. Anyone who gets out of line will be quickly identified. Anyone who deviates from their flight plan will have a pair of fighters vectored to them. Anyone who heads towards buildings, power plants, or other high-value targets, will be shot down. Period. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Some way to market air travel is the safest way to go isn’t it? You won’t see me boarding an airplane in the near future, maybe never again.
Secondly, if a terrorist team breaks into the cockpit before you can get organized and kills the cockpit crew and takes over the controls, what are you going to do? How are enough of you going to get through the cockpit door to do anything? Remember, you haven't had the foresight to bribe the ground crew, so the government has rendered you weaponless. Break out the windows to prevent high-altitude operations? Flying into buildings doesn't require high-altitude operations, and even if it did, they have oxygen in the cockpit and they don't give a fig about you. Make frantic cell-phone calls? Well, that helps the forensic folks, but that's about it.
No--the sort of hijacking where the hijackers remain accessible to the passengers may be less frequent now, but there are other forms.
Secondly, if a terrorist team breaks into the cockpit before you can get organized and kills the cockpit crew and takes over the controls, what are you going to do? How are enough of you going to get through the cockpit door to do anything? Remember, you haven't had the foresight to bribe the ground crew, so the government has rendered you weaponless. Break out the windows to prevent high-altitude operations? Flying into buildings doesn't require high-altitude operations, and even if it did, they have oxygen in the cockpit and they don't give a fig about you. Make frantic cell-phone calls? Well, that helps the forensic folks, but that's about it.
No--the sort of hijacking where the hijackers remain accessible to the passengers may be less frequent now, but there are other forms.
Like the ones who took down the plane in Pennsylvania on Tuesday? Is that the kind of cowardice to which you're referring?
A few more years of terrorist attacks will harden us up, of course, but that's not the way we are now.
We got very hardened, over night, this week.
Something heroic may have happened on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, but there aren't many heros left in this country.
There will be enough on every plane, from now on.
Secondly, if a terrorist team breaks into the cockpit before you can get organized and kills the cockpit crew and takes over the controls, what are you going to do?
What they did in Pennsylvania--break down the door.
Then you let the terrorists win.
Young folks are supposed to be ideological and enthusiastic. (That's why they use them for terrorists.) It's good that you have so much confidence and optimism at your age. Try not to get cynical as you get older.
But don't make me dependent for my security on the accuracy of your ideology.
You have no idea what my age is.
<rest of patronizing crap snipped>
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