First off, having watched the news from New York and Washington for most of
the night, my thoughts are with you all who have been affected by this. And
especially for Zimmy, who I'd guess is absolutely hectic at this point
working with the injured. I hope all of you Brinellers and your
families/friends are safe.
And Dan, thanks for your post against the idea of an inappropriate
response - ONCE the culprits are identified. In this instance, there is
absolutely nowhere to hide anywhere on Earth. IF a government is complicit
in this, a war criminal trial (or similar) of all involved would be a far
better demonstration of US ideals than an attack that will create more
martyrs. THAT would be a way for the light on the hill to shine unblemished.
Just a couple more comments:
> Behalf Of Gary Nunn
> In all likelihood, the planes were probably piloted by terrorists
> pilots. I
> can't imagine ANY commercial pilot willingly crashing into a
> building, even
> with a gun to their head.
I'd say almost certainly the aircrew were dead before the planes crashed.
Essentially, so long as you can identify critical instruments, especially
the autopilot OFF switches, and with fairly basic piloting skills, you'd be
skilled enough to pilot the aircraft.
Most of Japan's kamikazes had no more than a couple of hours of flight time.
Many had one and only one flight, and they flew into war zones. Here, the
pilot had surprise, ruthlessness and an unguarded target.
A couple of copies of MS Flight Simulator may be all that is needed as part
of the training. In fact, you can even get the New York/Washington areas and
commercial airliners as additional upgrades.
And to have chosen aircraft on long haul routes, all taking off from nearby
airports, shows a deeply thought out and utterly ruthless logic.
>
> My take on the Pennsylvania crash was probably the passengers and crew
> fought back, causing the crash.
Agree. It sounds like the plane stalled at low altitude.
>
> By the way, I am not completely familiar with the World Trade
> Center. Aside
> from the potential for massive loss of life, what would be the strategic
> significance of this specific building? Is the WTC considered a federal
> building?
Three main reasons, at a guess:
1 "World Trade" is not a popular term, and is inextricably linked with
Western/US economic dominance.
2 The two tallest buildings in the financial and spiritual home of the US
3 Location right near the Bay, towering well above all nearby buildings
giving an unobstructed flight path requiring no complex manoeuvres. The
Empire State would have been far harder to hit.
>
> As for a nuclear response to this attack.... If we were to nuke
> any country
> in response to this, then we would be guilty of the exact same crimes that
> we are accusing terrorist of here. How can we justify killing
> thousands (or
> millions) of innocent people to retaliate?
>
I wholeheartedly agree Gary.
>From John:
> > I know that if I was one of those pilots that's what I would
> have done. I
> > certainly would have told the terrorists that they would have to kill me
> > before I would deliberately crash an aircraft into a building.
That is why I'm pretty sure the aircrew - at least the pilot/copilot - were
probably already dead.
Deepest regards to you all,
Brett
