At 03:58 AM 9/20/01 -0400 Erik Reuter wrote:
>One possible solution I came up with is to have a 50-100 mile radius
>"no-fly zone" around all major cities. The main problem is that you'd
>have to abandon many (most?) of the current airports and rebuild them
>in rural areas, and connect the airports to the cities by high-speed
>trains. The cost would be huge. Of course, not counting human lives, the
>cost of rebuilding the WTC is huge, so maybe it is worth it.
The great irony here in DC is that the last remainig closed airport in the
country, Reagan National, is probably the airport that is least likely to
be targeted for hijackings.
It is no coincidence that when hijackers wanted to crash planes into
greater DC-area targets, they chose Dulles and Newark to stage their attacks.
The problem with Reagan is that it is actually *safest* precisely for the
reason that people so irrational fear it. Reagan is located virtually
downtown, only a mile from the Pentagon, and less than two miles from the
Lincoln Memorial. In order to launch a Sept. 11th-style attack, however,
you need *time*. You need time to hijack and gain control of the plane,
and then you need time to build up "ramming speed."
Once you think about it, you realize that Reagan is at *worst* no less a
threat to the national treasures of the greater DC area than is Dulles,
BWI, or even Philly, Newark, and Pittsburgh!
Of course, common sense isn't always the Secret Service's strongsuit. (It
is the Secret Service that has insisted on the closure.)
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"Freedom itself was attacked today, and Freedom will be Defended."
-U.S. President George W. Bush, 09/11/01
