I am not sure which sniper you would consider to be the most accomplished, but there are several books on Carlos “Whitefeather” Hathcock and Chris Kyle wrote his own book about being a SEAL sniper.
So people have been talking for awhile.
My bud spent 18 months on a submarine, I think he deals with that the same way.
I’d turn to my copilot and say “All those who think airline flights are more restful with fewer children on board, raise your hands.”
Two different people can use the same word to mean two different things. Bin Laden ran Al Qaeda, KSM supposedly handled most of the details of September 11th. Using that word doesn’t seem outlandish for either of them.
Someone picked the hijackers. The hijackers trained, they got into the U.S., some of them apparently used false identities. They sussed out various flights. They got money from other terrorists. The plot itself wasn’t that complicated but that doesn’t mean there was no planning going on.
Three guys with boxcutters vs 100 angry passengers. Interesting fight.
If I was the pilot, I would ask the gentleman where he wants to go. I would also get a hostage negotiator on the radio and ask him what to do. I’m guessing it wouldn’t involve bringing the perps into the cockpit, but who knows?
Boxcutters and some martial arts training, and a fight in close quarters. And on at least one of the flights the hijackers announced their intentions by stabbing and killing a few people. It was also fewer than 100 passengers; on some of the flights it was half that. They deliberately picked flights with fewer passengers. The tough part in the hypothetical is that someone always has to go first. If you’re charging into some guys with knives, you know you’ll probably get stabbed.
I think No Easy Day is a plus for Obama. Remember W saying he didn’t care about Osama? Remember Obama getting into a shouting match with McCain during one of the 2008 debates about violating Pakistani sovereignty? Obama promised to get OBL whatever the political cost, and he delivered.
And Romney’s response to the “One Chance” video? “Even Jimmy Carter could have made that decision.” Fuck you Mitt. Carter actually did make that decision and lost everything. And Romney himself said getting OBL wasn’t that important.
For the first time in decades the Democratic candidate is polling stronger on defense than the Republican candidate. I do not think the American people are mistaken.
and it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that we predict our actions, as mentioned above. A successful hijack entailing certain death for both the passengers and other citizens would encourage passengers to risk likely death in order to prevent such an outcome, but they may have assumed that they were “just” going to negotiate. The Bystander effect may have come into play too, especially in an ambiguous scenario.
If the “shocking revelation” from this book is that OBL was shot unarmed…I don’t think the American public is going to do more than shrug. Possibly with an added thought that it was a pity that he didn’t suffer more.
I’d like to have seen him crucified at the World Trade Center while children were allowed to cut of parts of his body with wire cutters.
But then, that’s why we have Judges and Juries. 