# Dredging up old 9/11 questions: The prescient film "Executive Decision" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611 "2009-04-28T14:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/21 "2009-04-29T14:52:27Z")
Before the Titanic went down, there was an eerily prescient novel about a similarly sized ship with inadequate lifeboats hitting an iceberg. But nobody believed the Titanic itself would meet such disaster. Why, God Himself couldn’t sink such a mighty vessel! :smack: …yeah. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/22 "2009-04-29T15:19:23Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > Before the Titanic went down, there was an eerily prescient novel about a similarly sized ship with inadequate lifeboats hitting an iceberg. But nobody believed the Titanic itself would meet such disaster. > > Why, God Himself couldn’t sink such a mighty vessel! :smack: > > …yeah. Very eerily. The ship in the novel was named the [Titan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futility,_or_the_Wreck_of_the_Titan). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/23 "2009-04-29T15:36:12Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It was never inconceivable that a plane could be used as a weapon. If the administrations took that possibility seriously, then my underlying premise is wrong. My impressions to this point based on media reports were that it was not taken seriously, although I have not done serious research on the matter, as perhaps some above posters have done. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/24 "2009-04-29T16:24:45Z")
You don’t need to look to works of fiction. It’s not as if nobody ever used a stolen plane to attack DC. [Cessna attack on the White House anyone?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Eugene_Corder) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/25 "2009-04-29T18:53:23Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Got a cite for this? [Andrews Air Force Base](http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=Andrews+Air+Force+Base&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=KNP3SZm3OIWQyQWD1JBK&ll=38.850403,-76.959572&spn=0.170318,0.30899&t=h&z=12&iwloc=A)is just outside of the city, and can scramble F-16s on very short notice. I live not far from there, and I’ve never heard of them keeping fighters aloft for extended periods, other than in extreme situations (immediately after 9/11, for instance). It seems that it would not only be extremely wasteful of all sorts of resources, but would also play havoc with operations at the three major airports in the region. I second **commasense** ’s doubt of this claim. I live west of DC but work in the city (although I did not work in the city on 9/11). When 9/11 occurred, we were very aware of the presence of fighter jets in the sky suddenly, because it was so novel. We hardly ever see them now – I have a hard time believing we’re unconsciously overlooking them. I don’t believe fighters patrol over DC routinely outside of _Iron Eagle_ remakes. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/26 "2009-04-30T02:45:10Z")
Just wanted to add that Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachmann also imagined the possibility of a plane being used as a weapon in “The Running Man” - where the protagonist flies a plane into an office tower. Wilbur Smith also wrote about a plot to use a DC3 (?) to either drop poison into a reservoir or posion gass over a crowd (I think poison gas over a crowd, but its a LONG time since I read the story) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/27 "2009-04-30T02:56:12Z")
If you want to establish some fictional precedents, watch some _West Wing_ dvd’s. In the episode, _In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I_, that was broadcast on October 4, 2000, Jed Bartlet got a briefing from his National Security Advisor about a possible terrorist attack by “bin Laden” against the United States. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/28 "2009-04-30T13:29:59Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Has there been any acknowledgement by the Bush or Clinton administrations in answer to a charge similar to mine, that filmmakers saw it coming but they missed it? They had considered the possibility, but thought it was a fair price to kill Steven Seagal. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/29 "2009-04-30T14:15:12Z")
> [@RiverRunner](#): > > Yeah? Big deal. On this board, we could come up with scads of terrorist plots that are “possible.” Doesn’t mean they are all probable enough to go through the time, expense, and trauma of protecting against all of them. > RR Governments directly told them they had info of terrorists who would fly planes into buildings in America. It was not something vague. They were both friendly and unfriendly countries who relayed the info. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/30 "2009-05-24T21:07:34Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Incidentally, the book _Six Days of the Condor_ and the movie _Three Days of the Condor_ both feature a small CIA branch office that analyzes spy and mystery novels for useful data, techniques and speculation. Somewhat similarly: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104379.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104379.html) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/31 "2009-05-24T21:15:33Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > One might conclude that Rice was lying, but what’s more frightening is the possibility that she was telling the truth that _she_ - the national security advisor - was unaware of the threat. When faced with a choice between malice, ignorance, and incompetence, the latter two win most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![redshift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@redshift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redshift)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/32 "2009-05-24T21:20:26Z")
Hey, if we actually believed Executive Decision, we’d have Steven Segal and Kurt Russell on a F-117 with an oversized vacuum cleaner ready to take down any stray airplanes at a moment’s notice. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/33 "2009-05-24T22:57:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you want to establish some fictional precedents, watch some _West Wing_ dvd’s. In the episode, _In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I_, that was broadcast on October 4, 2000, Jed Bartlet got a briefing from his National Security Advisor about a possible terrorist attack by “bin Laden” against the United States. Is this a woosh? Bin Ladin had already been implicated in several attacks on the US by 2000, predicting that he’d do so again is hardly an out there guess. He was even on the FBI’s ten most wanted list at the time, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/34 "2009-05-25T00:52:09Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Is this a woosh? Bin Ladin had already been implicated in several attacks on the US by 2000, predicting that he’d do so again is hardly an out there guess. He was even on the FBI’s ten most wanted list at the time, IIRC. Bin laden was added to the “10 most wanted” list in June of 1999, in connection with the August 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa. He wasn’t well known to the general public before that, but he wasn’t exactly flying under the radar. The NY Times had done a full-length story on Bin Laden by 1996, and his name appeared in news stories about Islamic militants a few years before that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/35 "2009-05-25T02:09:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Is this a woosh? Bin Ladin had already been implicated in several attacks on the US by 2000, predicting that he’d do so again is hardly an out there guess. He was even on the FBI’s ten most wanted list at the time, IIRC. I didn’t think they had just coincidentally made up the name. But this is a thread about al Qaeda references in fiction that were made before 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/36 "2009-05-25T02:34:43Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Equating that film with 911 is a big stretch. The vague term “using a plane as a weapon” is the only thing similar. The plot is way off. In contrast Tom Clancy wrote about someone crashing a 747 into the Capital Building in 1994. [Debt of Honor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_of_Honor). ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611/37 "2009-05-25T06:16:45Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I didn’t think they had just coincidentally made up the name. But this is a thread about al Qaeda references in fiction that were made before 9/11. No it’s not. The OP asked whether Al Qaeda was inspired by the events of a 1996 film, and more particularly, whether the fact that such an attack was imagined in fiction meant that it should havebeen imagined as a real threat. There’s no way to answer the first for sure, and I think we’ve established that lots of folks in the intelligence/security community had conceived of the threat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dredging-up-old-9-11-questions-the-prescient-film-executive-decision/494611.md?page=1)