Today, hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington. I can only imagine that it’s like Pearl Harbor. I’m in awe of the flow of information. Within an hour of the first crash, all of the planes in the US were grounded, and people on all of the cable news stations were fanning out around the US, giving us updates.
My first thoughts were that someone has gone too far.
I don’t want to speculate on the horror of the loss of life in New York and Washington. I am starving but can’t bear the thought of food. I am looking for my children, brothers and sisters, and friends to be sure that all are okay. It’s horrifying. I’m angry. I want to make someone suffer for this.
I see the pictures of the WTC from the ground, and realized that the buildings are gone. Like Indianola, just gone. Fox News just estimated 10,000 dead in NYC.
The institution that is breaking down is the nation state. If any nation commits an act of war, and we should send our military to that state, conquer its murderous government, and occupy them until their state changes its ways. It’s the purpose of our military.
Terror is the responsibility of states. If a state harbors a terrorist, or a training camp, or provides money, then it should be held responsible for the acts of those people, as parents are held responsible for the acts of their children. If a free state allows its people to be a danger to the people of another state, they are responsible for that. If you export terror, prepare to import retribution.
Further, if a free state has reason to believe that the people of another state represent a threat to them, the right of the latter to protect itself would compel it to engage the former in security talks.
We’ll find the black boxes. We’ll find informants. The murderers have left a trail that we will follow. I hope that our leaders will maintain a dialog at the state level, and that we will not meet terror with unlawful assault as well.
Fox News says that thousands of people were involved in this plot. Live and Let Live becomes Tit for Tat very quickly. Then it can collapse into Kill or Be Killed.
Those buildings stood for an hour. What a break. John McCoughlin of the NY Port Authority rode the debris down from the 82nd floor, sustaining two broken legs. What a miracle!
The FBI is showing a lot of activity today, and the President and Secretary of State are talking about a coalition against terrorism.
It sounds like there was a fight on United 93, where the men on the plane voted to try to overpower the skyjackers.
It appears that the plane that hit the Pentagon (AA 77?) was targeting the White House, missed it, and went to the second target.
I’ve been wondering about the kind of communication that the coordination of this event requires. It appears to me that there was a go/no go decision over weather, boarding, and load factors. It appears that clear weather, light loads, and being on the planes might all have been obstacles to their goals. It indicates a need to “report in” fairly early, and that there must have been some kind of an “abort” signal that they could receive before boarding.
Since all of the planes left within 15 minutes of each other, this information was probably discussed and the final decision made during the half hour before the flights went. Still, I wonder if there wasn’t some mechanism for them to stop the thing even after takeoff.
Wondering this helps me wonder about the nature of the coordination. Were cell calls made from all 4 places to the same number?