They could have given high warnings to the people in charge of airline security. They could have put air marshalls on planes. They could have warned the airlines to secure the cockpits better. They could have matched alien’s wanted for illegal US entry with airline tickets purchased and perhaps made an arrest at the airport. They could have put the Air Force on a higher level of warning to be ready to get fighters in the air in the event of highjackings…
Would you like me to go on?
What would you have issued “high warnings” about?
2)Air marshalls on every single US flight? We haven’t even done this AFTER 9/11…can you imagine how the Democrats would’ve reacted to this proposal before anything happened?
3)Secure cockpits? Maybe, but nobody knew they were going to crash planes into buildings. As soon as the terrorists started murdering passengers it’s hard to imagine that the pilots (who would have no idea what was about to happen) would simply allow a slaughter to take place on their plane. Remember, prior to 9/11 the assumption was that even hijackers wanted to get off the plane alive.
Arrest illegal aliens at the airport? Ha ha ha! That has to be a joke. Even post-9/11 we have a California governor who is vowing to give illegal aliens driver’s licenses! Imagine the outcry if Bush had said, “Because we THINK something might happen, we’re going to arrest ALL illegal aliens who try to get onto airplanes…” Yeah, right.
Fighters in the air in case of hijackings? For what? Do you honestly think that prior to 9/11 ANY president would order fighter jets to shoot down a US airline because the government had warnings that something MIGHT happen? Please.
Would you like ME to go on? I’ve yet to hear a single reasonable precaution that could’ve been put in place prior to 9/11 that would have prevented what happened.
Unfortunately, you ignored the last half of my post, in which I explained why I made that comment, and also said it was speculation and that I think the attacks would have happened no matter who was in office.
Now this is good. This gives me something intelligent to come back with next time I get into a discussion about it…
** Siegfried ** wrote:
But, I must add that I’m not saying they waited around for a Bush to become president, (jeez, imagine planning THAT) I’m saying the political atmosphere created by Bush and Company fostered the notion that “now is the time to attack.” But your conservation of resources theory is very convincing.
** AHunter3 ** wrote:
Saddam Hussein does not even enter into this picture.
No cite, but I’ve seen other posters here say that the attacks were actually moved forward (and, scarily enough, somewhat decreased in scope) because the time was right and the hijackers feared discovery.
I think this is all very reasonable. I don’t know how interested Al Qaeda is in the American political system to begin with - does bin Laden even talk about Bush? Not to my knowledge. They think the USA is evil, and as such, the particular leaders would probably not matter.
Okay, yeah, I misunderstood your post, Janx. That’ll teach me to try and speed read on my breaks.
Relaying on my memory (which is always a scary thing for me to do), I seem to remember that the reports of ignored warnings and memos of possible threats, hijackings, and targets, were coming in faster as September '01 approached. It’s entirely possible that al Qaeda may have realized that they had a narrowing window of time to attack since, it seems to me that in spite of bad judgements made, the FBI was slowly beginning realize that something big was going to happen.
I mean, in retrospect just thinking of al Qaeda’s attacks on the US and me having no access to secret reports, al Qaeda was definately thinking bigger and bolder as well as acting more often. The World Trade Center bombing in '93, the Khobar Tower bombing in '96, the African embassy bombings in '98, the USS Cole bombing in '00, and the 9/11 attacks in '01.
As far as I know, Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush have never even met. I think the only connection is that George H. W. Bush knows members of the bin Laden family (who I believe don’t even have anything to do with Osama anymore) through the Carlyle Group. I think.
** Siegfried ** I think that this about raps it up for me:
Probably, I forget that they have their intelligence gathering mechanisms as well.
I hereby rethink my position, rather than “YES” hands down, I would now respond with “Probably not”, based on the arguments listed above. (You still cant make me like Bush though).
I’m sure they haven’t met, I just meant that I don’t think bin Laden has even mentioned Bush in a speech.
That’s correct, although I’m not positive the bin Laden family is still involved in that group. And I’m also unsure if it’s unanimously believed that none of them are involved with Osama, although that IS their public position.
