[ml/nj]

"What I'm trying to get at is the government wasn't prepared for this event," said Kean.

I saw this article this morning in the printed Ledger, and it angered me. Kean and the Ledger certainly had the oportunity to share their great insights for protecting the nation before 9/11, but instead their prescriptions (e.g. unlimited immigration, "tolerance" for deviancy, etc.) back then led us to 9/11.

Now they still don't get it. Next week they'll probably treat us to some article glorifying Islam.

(And BTW, I've met Kean and I've had an opportunity to speak with him. I was astonished by his shallowness. It continues to amaze me that he could be a university president. - The governor thing is less surprising because politicians do seem to be a pretty shallow bunch.)

ML/NJ

[The Duke]

9/11 was a great tragedy, but it wasn't a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the scenario that those "outward looking radars" are there to defend us against.

POP QUIZ: What is the purpose of the "DEW LINE"?

[Prodigal Son]

Stephen Push, a spokesman for the Families of September 11 group, decried the testimony, saying, "I think it's disgraceful that no one will take responsibility for the mistakes that were obviously made."

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I think the responsibility for 9/11 rests solely and 100% on the shoulders of Osama bin Laden.

[darkwing104]

Isn't 20/20 hindsite a wonderful thing.

[buzzsaw6]

Just for the record: Maj Gen McKinley is Commander of Continental US Norad Region or CONR and 1st Air Force, not the commander of NORAD, which is General Eberhart.

[Grut]

Even thirty years ago, when I was flying penetration exercises against it, NORAD had become useless against the air-breather threat. We had to come in at high altitude, for instance, because otherwise NORAD couldn't see us at all.

Which is why I suspect it doesn't really matter which way they were looking on 9/11.

[jlogajan]

On 9/11, U.S. radar was facing wrong way

What? Is he saying they weren't detected on radar? What a dolt.

[thmiley]

This is a smokescreen. NORAD didn't need their radar units pointed at the U.S. That's what air traffic radar is for.

No one has explained adequately why the U.S. Air Force did not intercept the hijacked jets on 9/11. There was a huge gap in time between the time the jets shut off their transponders and turned off course and the time they crashed into their targets. Every one of those jets could have been intercepted by military fighter jets.

Remember golfer Payne Stewart's ill-fated flight?

Either the jets were ordered to stand down (get your tinfoil hats on!) or the military was asleep at the switch and thus criminally negligent. Either way, heads should roll.

Most likely, though, they will cover up individual failures or criminal conspiracy. Accountability and Washington, D.C. don't mix.

[ChefKeith]

Bush's authorization to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93, which eventually crashed in Pennsylvania, minutes after that plane already was shot down.

YEAH RIGHT!

[norraad]

Another interesting hindsight;

Environmental regs. changed about the time the 60th floor was being built.

i.e. No asbestos protecting the metal structure above that floor.

The cheap crap replacement allowed the jet fuel to melt the metal.

Wouldn't have happened with the better safer insulation.

[ladyinred]

Yesterday's hearing also revealed that two unarmed District of Columbia Air National Guard jet pilots who mobilized over Washington, D.C., that day had expressed a willingness if necessary to fly their planes into a hijacked jet to thwart an attack.

God bless them. It is amazing to me the sacrifices that some members of our military are willing to make for our country. This should shame those who attack President Bush for his service in the National Guard.

[Defender2]

It(RADAR) used to be pointed all over America AND outward from America, prior to the Clinton Cutbacks!!!!:-( The people monitoring the radarscopes were reduced during that time period as well. Post 09/11/01, President Bush changed it back to the way it used to be prior to the CLINTON REDUCTIONS!!!!

[Fawnn]

On 9/11, U.S. radar was facing wrong way

It's misleading headlines like that one that's caused most media to lose credibility!

[Consort]

Can NORAD patch into the Air Traffic Controller radars? Did the scrambled fighters have orders to shoot. Weren't skyjackings treated as hostage/terrorist situations and not suicide missions?

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

On 9/11, U.S. radar was facing wrong way

That is an absurd headline, unless the radars were pointing straight down. Radars rotate 360 degrees; even if "pointing out to sea" they still cover the land with the other 180 degrees. And that isn't counting the commercial air traffic radar. The hijacked jets flew past several air bases, and there was plenty of time for interception, after they had gone off course and before they reached their targets. Intercepting wayward aircraft was a standard USAF duty for many decades prior to 9/11/2001. Whoever is at fault, I don't expect the government to cooperate in exposing the facts about what went wrong.