With all due respect, I think your dislike of the Libertarians got the best of you on this one. Are you really prepared to claim that all of those pilots that have been clamoring for arming pilots are knee-jerkers and bunker kooks ?
Even Superman wouldn't have been able to foresee and prevent at least four separate hijackings, all on the same day, all unexpectedly, all employing a devastating new type of attack
Umm, the part about commandeering airliners by gaining access to the cockpits is hardly new. IMO, what certainly could have defeated the terrorists in question would have been secure cockpit doors, something the airline industry refused to spend the money on and the incompetent sycophants in the FAA refused to require. The airlines didn't have a problem wiring thousands and thousands of seats with those [expletive deleted] LCD spam screens but they couldn't afford to hook up a $49 webcam so the pilots could see what was happening in the passenger compartment? If the FAA didn't deliberately ignore common sense for 25 years after the initial spate of hijackings because somebody told them to, if they weren't jumping up and down demanding Congressional hearings on the subject to force the ever-whining airlines to secure their cockpits, how else can anybody describe them but as incompetent? And frankly, I have very little tolerance for the @#$%ups responsible for this. Whether it's Congress, the FAA, or the cheezers in charge of the airlines who smugly sit silent when the cash registers are chiming non-stop from coast to coast but immediately start whining like stuck pigs the instant there's a predictable downturn in business, in this case, "everybody makes mistakes" doesn't cut it - and that's giving them the benefit of the doubt.
I've heard a lot of whining for public money, I heard a lot of "let's form a Blue Ribbon Panel to study this," I heard a lot of "we need a corps of Federalized Mongoloids to feel up little old ladies," but I haven't heard a lot of heads rolling down the hallways of government and industry for miserably failing to do their jobs.
I applaud the efforts of those in government that are doing something effective to see that this type of thing doesn't happen again but I have yet to see any of the screwups held responsible.
Respect returned. But, respectfully, I said no such thing. The point I made (and stand by) was that simply handing a pistol to every pilot can cause more problems than it solves, and wouldn't have prevented a dedicated enemy from storming a cockpit.
IMO, what certainly could have defeated the terrorists in question would have been secure cockpit doors, something the airline industry refused to spend the money on and the incompetent sycophants in the FAA refused to require.
"We have constructed the most impregnable series of fortifications in the history of modern national defense."
Andre Maginot.
(And if he didn't actually say that, then he should have).
Using a hijacked airliner as a mobile weapon was a new paradigm (and a new low) for terrorists. Do you also wish to blame physicians for not actively seeking a cure for diseases that no one has contracted?
The airlines didn't have a problem wiring thousands and thousands of seats with those [expletive deleted] LCD spam screens
My laptop's screen neatly blocks out the view from those stupid things. I do need to figure out some way to watch an entire 2-hour movie on long flights without killing the battery in my laptop though - its only good for about 1.5 hours.
but they couldn't afford to hook up a $49 webcam so the pilots could see what was happening in the passenger compartment?
I cannot find anything wrong with this idea, but have not heard it discussed by anyone post 9/11. Any theory as to why?
I applaud the efforts of those in government that are doing something effective to see that this type of thing doesn't happen again but I have yet to see any of the screwups held responsible.
I cannot consider failure to read minds a "screwup", and do not feel the need to punish people for not being prescient. As human beings, we bind our wounds, devise ways to help ensure that 9/11 cannot happen again, and move on.