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04/19/2004 Archived Entry: "No one could have imagined..."
No one could have imagined...
I'm sorry - what were you saying, there, Condi?
In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties.In a third scenario, the target was the Pentagon — but that drill was not run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic, NORAD and Defense officials say.
NORAD, in a written statement, confirmed that such hijacking exercises occurred. It said the scenarios outlined were regional drills, not regularly scheduled continent-wide exercises.
"Numerous types of civilian and military aircraft were used as mock hijacked aircraft," the statement said. "These exercises tested track detection and identification; scramble and interception; hijack procedures; internal and external agency coordination and operational security and communications security procedures."
A White House spokesman said Sunday that the Bush administration was not aware of the NORAD exercises. But the exercises using real aircraft show that at least one part of the government thought the possibility of such attacks, though unlikely, merited scrutiny.
On April 8, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks heard testimony from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that the White House didn't anticipate hijacked planes being used as weapons.
Replies: 6 people speak up
So there actually were drills ahead of time for this specific type of disaster and we still didn't even manage to follow the most basic procedures that were put into place, like scrambling jets in a timely fashion. Regarding the Defense Department claiming the scenario was too unrealistic...nevermind...I'd better not say.
Posted by LML @ 04/19/2004 08:53 AM NY
Well yes but no one thought it would happen to Bush's America, after all God luvs him best!
Posted by salvage @ 04/19/2004 11:10 AM NY
I remember in the first few months after 9/11, there was quite a bit of swirl about exercises of this nature, and how, supposedly, there was actually one planned for 9/11 and confusion with that is what caused pause.....the rumor went that they didn't know if what they were seeing was part of an exercise or the real thing.
Posted by cameron @ 04/19/2004 11:35 AM NY
The fact that John Ashcroft, that walking pile of filth, stopped using commercial airliners in July of 2001 due to an "unspecified threat assessment", is reason enough to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. Imagine if FDR had recieved a briefing from his advisers captioned "Japanese Determined to Strike United States Navy" and his attorney general stopped flying commerical planes before the attack on Pearl Harbor, do you suppose the American people would have been outraged?
You damn right, and with good reason!!!
Bush is incompetent and unqualified to serve as president of this great land. He needs to be dragged, kicking and screaming from his office, and made to hitchhike back to Crawford, Texas to do what he does best - clear brush.
Posted by Stephen Kriz @ 04/19/2004 04:30 PM NY
I hate to burst your bubble on the Japanese thing, but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,that is exactly what happened.
Do you have a link to the story that Asscroft (sp) quit flying commercial?
As for the commercial airline industry, I do beleive that when flights to cuba were being hijacked and such, there was a plan to strengthen the cockpit doors,etc. However the plan was scraped after airport screening ( metal detectors , etc ) were installed. Reason you wonder ?COST ! ! !
Posted by Robin Hacker @ 04/19/2004 05:30 PM NY
Robin:
Not sure what you mean by your comment implying that FDR was warned about Pearl Harbor, but I have seen nothing that resembles the August 6th, 2001 PDB to Bush that pretty much lays out the Sept. 11th plot for him. This dipshit couldn't find his ass with both hands and a flashlight.
Here is your link to the Ashcroft story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml
Posted by Stephen Kriz @ 04/20/2004 09:23 AM NY
