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Arming Our Airline Pilots Is A First Step In What It Will Take To Win
Toogood Reports ^ | September 17, 2001 | Paul M. Weyrich

Posted on 09/17/2001 9:48:08 AM PDT by Starmaker

As the Bush Administration prepares its response to the horrible terrorist attack against the United States, there are several matters that should be discussed up front.

The first is this: To actually achieve a meaningful victory over these kinds of terrorists will take a radically different approach by our military than we have ever had before. The fact is the terrorists are engaging in fourth generation warfare. These terrorists are not loyal to any nation state. They are loyal only to their fanatical religion. This religion knows no boundaries. They are operating in fifty or more countries. To eradicate such a movement will take a long time. It will require rebuilding our human intelligence system. Thanks to Bill Clinton, who picked up where Jimmy Carter left off, we all but did away with real spies. Their thinking held that only bad guys had spies and we were going to show the world that we were now the good guys. We instead have relied on new technology for our intelligence gathering. Well, satellites can't infiltrate terrorist cells.

President Bush has said over and over again that this effort will require patience and may take years. He is absolutely correct but I doubt that this has, of yet, penetrated the American consciousness. After all, since we lost the protracted war in Vietnam, we have only known quick little wars. President Reagan presided over a relatively small conflict, which was over in a couple of days. President Bush-41 did take a long while to mobilize for the Gulf war and to put the coalition together to prosecute it, but the actual land operation against Iraq was over within less than a week. President Clinton engaged in some military operations but they were usually billed as peace keeping or so called nation-building missions. There were few casualties and while we are still engaged in most of these arenas, such as Bosnia, there is so little coverage of these conflicts that the average American isn't even aware that we are still there.

That is why it is unlikely that Americans understand what Bush means when he talks of patience and a protracted conflict. Just to acquire the minimum ability to fight fourth generation warfare will take at least a year and a half. The real question is whether or not we have the political will to engage in a sustained conflict. Our enemies are banking on the belief that we do not. They saw how we cut and ran out of Vietnam and thus were defeated by a third rate power. They look at these little conflicts since then and figure they don't count. They recall the phony engagement that Clinton pulled off to try to distract the House from voting on his impeachment. They are not wrong to believe that we don't have the stomach for a real war and especially one in which there are likely to be no immediate victories.

If the show of unity we are now seeing in Congress and elsewhere is real then it will be up to all of our leaders to stress the need for patience and the truth that we must — to win — be in this for the long haul. I find it hard to believe that some of these leaders, with elections approaching next year, won't begin to try to create political advantage by pointing to a lack of results. I hope I am wrong about that, but knowing some of them as I do, I find it hard to imagine that they will stay the course when they think they can score points with the American voter by bolting and crying foul.

Meanwhile, most every American is asking himself what can be done to combat terrorism in the short run. There is one step that can be taken now which is simple to implement and which will produce immediate results. We should arm our pilots and co-pilots and anyone else who has cockpit duty. We trust these people with our lives. We can trust them with side arms. Former Drug Czar Bill Bennett surfaced the idea on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" cable program last week. There were hundreds upon hundreds of calls supporting the proposition with not a single dissent from any pilot.

That idea was seriously discussed a few decades ago at the time when the United States was experiencing what seemed to be an unending series of hijackings. Instead we elected to inconvenience the passengers by establishing the security checks with which we are all so familiar.

We see how much good those checks did on September 11th. They were likewise ineffective in previous incidents as well. History might well be very different if the pilots and co-pilots of the four Terrorist planes had been armed. If some who operate the planes don't know how to handle firearms, the NRA I am sure, will be happy to sponsor classes for them to learn.

The arguments against arming our pilots and co-pilots are trivial compared with the common sense view that this small step will contribute to airline safety in the short run.

I hope our lawmakers, who always want to do something in a time of crisis so it appears they are useful, will take up this idea. If they pass such a law and the President signs it, then they might actually have made a real contribution for the common good.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 09/17/2001 9:48:09 AM PDT by Starmaker
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To: Starmaker
We entrust our lives to the pilot when we fly. It only makes good sense to allow the pilot and co-pilot the opportunity to defend themselves and in turn the lives of all on board. Whoever thinks contrary to that is an idiot.
2 posted on 09/17/2001 9:53:38 AM PDT by Slyfox
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To: Starmaker
Respect the Constitution and arm the passengers! It is real telling that our government distrusts its citizens as much (or more) than they distrust the terrorists.
3 posted on 09/17/2001 10:09:40 AM PDT by The Shootist
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To: Slyfox
And what if the pilot does not want to be armed what then?
4 posted on 09/17/2001 10:15:18 AM PDT by South Dakota
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To: South Dakota
Most pilots recieved military training before they became pilots. I can't imagine a pilot who handles jumbo jets saying "Oh, no, that's alright, I don't want to touch a gun."
5 posted on 09/17/2001 10:23:50 AM PDT by Slyfox
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To: Starmaker
1st step - are pilots, 2nd pilots are not allowed to leave the cockpit for ANY reason, 3rd - make the cockpit totally secure and airtight! 4th - install sleeping gas lines into the passenger compartment, 5th - allow ex military, police officers to carry on a concealed weapon.
6 posted on 09/17/2001 10:24:35 AM PDT by Hammerhead
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To: Slyfox
"I can't imagine a pilot who handles jumbo jets saying 'Oh, no, that's alright, I don't want to touch a gun.'"

Haven't flown with a woman pilot, have you?

7 posted on 09/17/2001 10:26:18 AM PDT by Redbob
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To: Starmaker
Uh, and what do you/we think will happen when a couple of bullets go through the plane i.e. a pressurized cabin?
8 posted on 09/17/2001 10:29:07 AM PDT by gdani
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To: The Shootist, Starmaker
Instead of relying on just having sky marshals on flights, why not have armed policemen on flights. Many apartments buildings give discounts to policemen to encourage them to live there, why not allow policemen to have free tickets on airlines in exchange for providing protection? Also, the armed forces often send their people as passengers on commercial airliners, why not have them armed?
9 posted on 09/17/2001 10:29:22 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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To: Redbob
Nope, can't say that I have. I usually don't get to peek inside the cockpit during my flights. Most of the female flight attendants I know own guns and are great shots. They are not allowed to take them on board, however.
10 posted on 09/17/2001 10:29:57 AM PDT by Slyfox
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To: Starmaker
I can only hope that this policy is adopted. In the mean time the FAA won't allow rest of us honest citizens so much as a pocketknife on the plane.

Apparently we are all going to have to learn how to kill armed hijackers with our bare hands.

11 posted on 09/17/2001 10:29:58 AM PDT by Crusader Rabbit
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To: Starmaker
Amen! ... and the 2nd step is to allow all responsible citizens with government approved CCWs to carry onboard.

Even a catastrophic decompression is preferable to what happened on Tuesday. But that is another liberal lie. 10,000 deaths.

Terrorists love a PC nanny-nation of victims (which is what we are becoming today).

12 posted on 09/17/2001 10:32:28 AM PDT by surferUSA
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To: Starmaker
Amen! ... and the 2nd step is to allow all responsible citizens with government approved CCWs to carry onboard.

Even a catastrophic decompression is preferable to what happened on Tuesday. But that is another liberal lie. 10,000 deaths.

Terrorists love a PC nanny-nation of victims (which is what we are becoming today).

13 posted on 09/17/2001 10:32:32 AM PDT by surferUSA
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To: Starmaker
Step 2 . re-arm all American citizens per 2nd amendment
14 posted on 09/17/2001 10:38:50 AM PDT by clamper1797
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To: Starmaker
Many of the pilots do not want to be armed. They do not want a terrorist knowing there is a gun available in the cockpit.

I am not sure putting bullit holes in the fusalage is such a good idea at 30,000 feet.

Personally, it would make more sense to me to give every passanger a fully charged tazer when they boarded. Yes, you would be giving on to the terrorist, but tazers only work once per charge. The terrorist would then be facing a cabin full of armed people.

Probably would reduce the amount of air rage also.

15 posted on 09/17/2001 10:40:17 AM PDT by eFudd
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To: The Shootist
Arming the passengers IS the solution and would work every time it's tried. But, the glory wouldn't go to the state, it would go to the people which we simply can't have.
16 posted on 09/17/2001 10:40:34 AM PDT by vigilo
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To: Starmaker
I was wondering if seat belts were kept on then the pilot could do a roll-over and cause the bad guys to crack their heads on the ceiling........

just a thought.

17 posted on 09/17/2001 10:48:38 AM PDT by Jackie222
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To: gdani
Uh, and what do you/we think will happen when a couple of bullets go through the plane i.e. a pressurized cabin?

Uh, nothing.

A small hole in an airplane is not going to be a big deal, I don't care how high it is. All of that explosive decompression hogwash is just Hollywood special effects. If you put a bullethole in an airplane, you are left with just that, a bullethole. Even if the plane does have a chance do decompress through that small hole (which would take hours) the supplemental oxygen masks would just deploy.

Or do you prefer to be smashed into a stationary object at 500 mph?

18 posted on 09/17/2001 10:54:48 AM PDT by gridlock
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To: gdani
There is ammunition available that would not penetrate a cabin wall, but would effectively stop a terorist. The type of ammunition used would need control without any question, due to the sophistication of the equiptment of the aircraft, and pressurization of the cabin. These concerns are not a reason to not arm flight crews. The radical left wing gun grabbers are the only impediment to this logical step in Terrorist control. Time to put these Marxists in their place, before any more innocent people have to die.
19 posted on 09/17/2001 10:59:20 AM PDT by Ol'foggie (noUN@USA.evr)
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To: Starmaker
Free Gun Training for Commercial Pilots
20 posted on 09/17/2001 11:04:07 AM PDT by Schnucki
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