IP: Re: Read it and be real worried -- [And we need a missile shield !! ]-- Pentagon Tracked Deadly Jet but Found No Way to Stop It

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

As I said -- all sides djf


> Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 08:24:02 -0700
> From: Norman MacLeod <gaelwolf () waypt com>
>
> Dave --
>
> There are several factors at work here that you have to consider when you 
> are wondering why the Air Force didn't manage to shoot down any of the 
> airliners.
>
> First, and perhaps foremost, there is no track record of terrorists 
> crashing hijacked airplanes full of people into major American buildings. 
> Where explosives meet buildings, it has generally been through a vehicle 
> bomb, a walking suicide bomber, or a package either mailed or left behind.
>
> (In the absence of a precedent, what do you think the media would be 
> saying today if the Air Force had managed to correctly deduce what the 
> hijackers were going to do and managed to shoot down all four of these 
> airplanes before they got anywhere close to their targets?)
>
> Second, there are some highly restrictive legal restraints on our military 
> taking part in civil crimes...which is how terrorist acts have been 
> handled in the United States.
>
> Now, on to particulars...
>
> There are no fighter aircraft stationed at Andrews AFB. It's standing 
> squadrons are transport aircraft of various types. The fighters that were 
> trying to get to DC came from Langley AFB, about 150 miles away. The 
> fighters headed for New York were coming from Massachusetts, about 70 
> miles away. In both cases, they were chasing aircraft going away from them 
> at high speed.
>
> As a result of our previous Administration being convinced that, since the 
> Cold War was over, there was no need to keep fighters on alert, cocked and 
> ready, the Air Force was long ago ordered to stand down from alert status. 
> It takes time to generate a combat-loaded aircraft when you've been 
> ordered not to keep any ready...and I'm frankly surprised that they were 
> able to get combat-loaded jets in the air as quickly as they did.
>
> I presume that's been changed already.
>
> You wonder what would have happened if it had been a Russian bomber coming 
> in...there's a simple answer. It would have been intercepted and escorted 
> away from our airspace, as happens on a more irregular basis than it did 
> during the cold war, but happens nonetheless.
>
> The Chain of Command was not fouled up. The Chain of Command had its hands 
> securely tied up by the Clinton Administration. That's one of the reasons 
> so many of us retired from the military during the previous Administration.
>
> It's particular galling that the New York Times and some other media 
> outlets are second-guessing what was happening in the Pentagon's command 
> center in the hour before AA 77 was flown into the building. Their 
> reporters were not there. Whatever the inefficiencies were in place as the 
> result of the legally required civilian-military spheres of control, our 
> nation could do with a little less public Monday morning quarterbacking 
> right now. One of the primary keys to preventing future terrorist acts is 
> to present a unified face that demonstrates a lack of success in terms of 
> generating long-term disunity and ineffectiveness in generating a response.
>
> Norman MacLeod
>
>
> David Farber wrote:
>
> > One hour and they could not get a jet fighter there I assume from Andrews 
> > I could drive it in less time.. Wonder what would have happened if it had 
> > been a old USSR bomber coming in. Sounds like not contingency plans at 
> > all and fouled up chain of command.
> >
> > Dave
> >
> >
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/15/national/15CONT.html
> >
> > WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 -- During the hour or so that American Airlines 
> > Flight 77 was under the control of hijackers, up to the moment it struck 
> > the west side of the Pentagon, military officials in a command center on 
> > the east side of the building were urgently talking to law enforcement 
> > and air traffic control officials about what to do.
> >
> > But despite elaborate plans that link civilian and military efforts to 
> > control the nation's airspace in defense of the country, and despite two 
> > other jetliners' having already hit the World Trade Center in New York, 
> > the fighter planes that scrambled into protective orbits around 
> > Washington did not arrive until 15 minutes after Flight 77 hit the 
> > Pentagon. Even if they had been there sooner, it is not clear what they 
> > would have done to thwart the attack.
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> >
> >
> > For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/
>
> --
>
>
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