9/11commission wants both Bush and Bill

[channonc 466]

This might be going slightly off topic, but in the realm of preventative security.

Right now our most vulnerable spot is ports. About 1% of what comes in and out of ports right now is actually inspected. So if you want to know how terrorists are getting things in teh country right now, let me tell you its mostly through the ports and not through the airline.

Right now our committee is trying to beef up port security, unfortunately, the Rs don't want to spend money on that. Meanwhile things are going in and out of our country without notice.

[Donutboy 0]

I think what he's saying is that our Air National Guard could have been on alert to divert hijacked airplanes away from major cities. You don't need flight numbers or departure times to be on heightened alert for hijackings. All you need is a plan in place for such an event.

But times were different pre-911, that's what I'm saying. At the time, protocol was to comply with hijackers and take them wherever they wanted to go. Because, up until 911 a hi-jacker was just wanting you to take them to Cuba or whatever and get the US to release political prisoners or something.

I think that you and Al are being intellectually dishonest here. Your looking at the past through the filter of today's knowledge. Whether there was "chatter" about flying buildings into planes or not prior to 911, it doesn't change the fact that nothing like this had EVER happened before. You can't prepare for EVERYTHING that MIGHT happen....period.

You make some valid points but the fact is we couldn't afford to do nothing and simply hope the reports were wrong. ANY attempt at security would have been better than nothing. I'm not saying 9-11 could have been prevented. No one truely knows. My point of contention is what COULD have been tried? What is the answer to future attempts? It's obvious that we're still not safe. Weapons have already been planted on airplanes. Do metal detectors solve ALL of the weapons problems? NO. Someone could fashion a knife out of plexiglass or any hard plastic and smuggle it on board. I wouldn't consider the airplanes safe until secure doors are placed between the controls of the planes and the passenger area.

[TxWarEagle 3]

I think what he's saying is that our Air National Guard could have been on alert to divert hijacked airplanes away from major cities. You don't need flight numbers or departure times to be on heightened alert for hijackings. All you need is a plan in place for such an event.

How do you do this?

There was no divert in the 9-11 hijacker plans. They would have had to shoot them down. It was a suicide mission. How do you divert that?

Hindsight is a great-gift, but imagine the positings on this board of W gave authority to pilots to shoot down any commercial/recreational plane that does not respond to radio transmissions from air control. Say he did this from Crawford, TX Sept 6th?

Based on the intelligence, that so many consider flawed to a great degree......

[Tiger Al 0]

So, if at the the end of this commission it's shown that certain individuals in the FBI, let's say, had overwhelming evidence that a terrorist attack was imminently forthcoming that involved the use of domestic airlines that would be used as missiles and those individuals in the FBI did NOTHING in the way of warning or preparing the airlines or anyone else of the problem then they should be exhonerated??? Sorry, we're not talking about a loose handrail or carpal tunnel syndrome where a simple fine and a slap on the wrist will remedy the situation. And we're not looking at the past knowing what we know today and trying to assign blame but looking to see what information was available up to 9/10 to see if it's reasonable to think that it could have been avoided.

I think that you and Al are being intellectually dishonest here. Your looking at the past through the filter of today's knowledge. Whether there was "chatter" about flying buildings into planes or not prior to 911, it doesn't change the fact that nothing like this had EVER happened before. You can't prepare for EVERYTHING that MIGHT happen....period.

Not really. Remember when an attempt by terrorists to fly an airplane into the Eiffel Tower was thwarted? During Y2K, many terrorist attempts were shut down due to intelligence gathering and properly acting on that intelligence. Stopping terrorism isn't new.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

I think what he's saying is that our Air National Guard could have been on alert to divert hijacked airplanes away from major cities.

You mean the same Air National Guard that, according to you and your pinko buddies, Bush was a coward for joining thru his daddy's influence and that he went AWOL from? Suddenly it is a valuable military asset?

And CCTAU, really - J-preg???????????????