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9-11 Fighter Pilot: We Wouldn't Have Shot Down Hijackers
NewsMax.com ^ | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

Posted on 08/21/2002 6:58:33 PM PDT by kattracks

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To: kattracks
Newsmax used to be credible.
21 posted on 08/21/2002 9:44:41 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny
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To: Ramius
Bump.
22 posted on 08/21/2002 9:46:56 PM PDT by First_Salute
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To: kattracks
What a ridiculous article.

What's their next headline?

9-11 NYC Fire Dept: We Wouldn't Have Sent Help to WTC Had We Known it Would Collapse"

Before all this "Sep 11th Anniversary" hysteria begins, let me offer this advice:

STOP IT!

23 posted on 08/21/2002 9:58:18 PM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: goldstategop
It's actually possible if they had shot down one or both NY planes that it might have killed MORE than 3000 people.

Think about it.

The plane(s) crashes down into downtown NY city streets taking out blocks of cars, pedestrians, and buildings with flaming jet fuel scattered over a wide area.

24 posted on 08/21/2002 10:37:37 PM PDT by chaosagent
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To: chaosagent
They might have stopped the planes before they got to New York. All the same its important to keep in mind no one knew these were homocide terrorists. People thought they hijacked the planes to take them someplace to demand ransom - which we have seen in earlier hijackings of this sort. 911 changed all our lives by taking terrorism to a new and more lethal level.
25 posted on 08/21/2002 10:41:14 PM PDT by goldstategop
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To: goldstategop; chaosagent
Just out of curiosity: Couldn't the F-15s have strafed the cockpit? Doing so would have killed the terrorist pilots, but possibly left the airplanes reasonably airworthy, giving the passengers and crew a chance to bring the plane down, or maybe ditch it in water.

Just a thought.
26 posted on 08/21/2002 11:55:09 PM PDT by parthur
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To: parthur
It would be VERY difficult to strafe the cockpit, kill the terrorists, and NOT destroy the controls.
27 posted on 08/22/2002 12:35:09 AM PDT by chaosagent
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To: goldstategop
Considering the time line, it probably would have been very difficult to shot down the planes anywhere but over NY.

Remember they were just getting to the NY area when the SECOND plane hit the WTC.

28 posted on 08/22/2002 12:37:59 AM PDT by chaosagent
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To: First_Salute; snopercod
Thanks for the ping, Mike.

Monday morning quarterbacking regarding the possibility of having been able to prevent what happened in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania on 9/11 amounts to nothing but a waste of precious oxygen….if one is talking about preventive action that could have been taken on that infamous day.

Much could have been done in the months and years that led up to 9/11 to prevent the holocaust. But the palpable absence of that ounce (pound/ton) of prevention comes under the heading of presidential (especially 1993-2001 presidential)/legislative incompetence/malfeasance/accommodation, to which the American public either was not privy, or simply turned a blind eye.

If terrorists hijack an airliner again, you can bet that they are going to do it (just as they did last time) so that the time interval between taking over the controls and plowing into whatever strategic/populated target they plan to destroy will be minimal. There will be no window of opportunity to make the myriad of decisions as to how/when/where best to shoot the aircraft down. If we again allow hijackers/terrorists seats on a commercial American jet, we may as well record one more plane (and one more target) as destroyed (unless passengers of the Todd Beamer type somehow manage to avert the disaster).

With that said, I don’t believe the next terrorist act on American soil will involve aircraft at all. So by focusing our attention on frisking little old ladies (with lethal hatpins in their possession) at our airports, we are not only harassing our senior citizens (and other innocents unfortunate enough to find themselves victims of the harassment quota du jour), but we are diverting our attention from other, more logical defensive, precautionary actions. (It’s kinda like placing five hundred armed guards, shoulder-to-shoulder, around the perimeter of a bank that was held up yesterday (and making a determined point of randomly intimidating a certain percentage of the customers), while the robbers huddle, unnoticed and unhindered, a few miles away, planning to hold up the jewelry store in the next town).

As for President Bush issuing an order to shoot down any of the four doomed 9/11 flights, not only is there no precedent (thank God) for such a ridiculous move, but, had he had the opportunity and the inclination to do so, the media and the enemies of America (many of whom sit in DC pretending to ‘govern’ the nation they despise) would have made the post-Watergate presidential crucifixion look like a romp in the park.

29 posted on 08/22/2002 5:23:02 PM PDT by joanie-f
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To: joanie-f
BTTT
30 posted on 08/22/2002 6:28:19 PM PDT by sarasmom
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To: goldstategop
Because President Bush was involved in a public school event in Florida between the time of the first and second attacks, no such order could have been issued, the Times said.

Like, duh, he has no communcation when not in the White House???

31 posted on 08/22/2002 6:31:27 PM PDT by cinFLA
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To: joanie-f
Bump.
32 posted on 08/22/2002 10:04:37 PM PDT by First_Salute
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