If, as Condi says, The government had no idea that planes might be used as missles, why did the military practice for just such an event?
We have a contingency plan for invading Canada too. The government has a bunch of plans for wacky scenarios that it holds on to just in case. I think the administration assumed that the probability for executing this one was low (though if Clarke is right, they should have thought otherwise). I don’t think this is an insidiousssssssss conspiracy or anything like that.
Um, how about:
a) It depends what you mean by “government”. It was 3 November 2000, i.e. not during the current administration,
b) It was training for a plane crash pure and simple. Not a “planes… used as missiles” event.
There’s plenty of ammunition to use against Condi. This one’s a dud.
Here’s Cecil’s take on contingency planning.
Does the government physically practice all these plans you say they have?
They practiced this one.
I’m not saying there is a conspiracy. I’m just saying the goverment had the idea it might happen.
I believe they practice those that are politically and logistically feasable. There’s all kinds of bioterrorism drills and wargames. I am not a military strategist, but I think this is pretty common.
Assuming that they did have specific threat information, why would they ignore it and let 9/11 happen? I am not sure what you are implying.
Just what Condi said.
They had no idea that this kind of thing might happen.
It appears they did though.
Don’t get me wrong, I hate this administration, but assuming they had knowledge of potential attacks, did not ignore it and saw it as being legitimate enough to practice for, and then did nothing to stop the terrorist attack that would follow; doesn’t that imply a kind of conspiracy?
I mean, if Clarke is right, the admin. was merely so stupid as to think terrorism was not a threat. Under your theory, they waste resources practicing for a terrorist attack and then don’t actually do anything to prevent future terrorist attacks. I maintain that this was not an unusual sort of drill that just looks really suspicious in retrospect. Kinda like Nostradamus.
Let me say up front that I have absolutely no love for the current administration.
You don’t need any sort of conspiracy theory to explain why the Pentagon would have emergancy plans for a plane crash into the building. Just take a look at a map of DC. Note the postion of Reagon Natl Airport and how close it is to the Pentagon. We’ve already seen one plane go down into the 14th St bridge due to bad weather (and pilot error). It would be smart for all building managers in DC to have plans in place should another plane go down in the city.
Shhhh! Ixnay onway ethay Anadacay invasionway ansplay.
Sorry, Manny, but Americans must face the truth!
We cannot afford to leave the world’s only major reserves of strategic whale blubber in the wrong hands. The Bush Admin is pursuing reports that a considerable portion of Canadian indigenous personnel are francophonic, hence unreliable.
As well, Canada produces a variety of beers known to be useful in coercive interrogations. The willingness of Canada’s government to supply such ghastly products to Basque seperatists cannot be disproven, and must therefore be presumed to be true. (See Bush, et. al)
Note as well that “Canuck” and “Iraq” end in the same consonant. Mere coincidence? Perhaps.
But can we afford to take that risk?
Why shouldn’t we begin planning the invasion of Canuckistan? They’ve already begun setting up secret bases in the United States.
There’s Base Avalanche in Colorado, Base Coyote in Phoenix, and Base Star in Dallas.
I’m telling you…it’s a plot.
mmmm… very interesting…
Good point, Theios.
And, um… YEAH! BOMB CANADA! USA #1!
(glances around nervously, being half-Canadian)
Still not sure what you are driving at. As Desmostylus said, the exercise apparently concerned the accidental crash of a passenger jet. Nowhere does the article you linked mention that the crashed passenger jet in the scenario had been hijacked. If a hijacking was part of the scenario, I suggest that you would still have to show precisely how this exercise was somehow evidence that the White House (the Clinton White House, apparently, since the 2000 exercise was likely planned months in advance) or some other branch of goverenment knew of the nature of the 11 Sept. attacks in advance.
This bears repeating:
From THE SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF TERRORISM: WHO BECOMES A TERRORIST AND WHY?
(A Report Prepared under an Interagency Agreement by the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress) (1999)
In the article I linked plane crash was put in parentheses…“Plane Crash”
Why would they have done that?
I believe their concept was of a smaller private plane packed with high explosives, not a hijacked airliner.
The plane crash into the Pentagon scenario could work either way - and it probably was designed to. Most large buildings have emergency plans for all kinds of scenarios, and the Pentagon, being a giant target, would have more plans and practice them more frequently. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they saw the attack coming- but they may have considered the consequences of the military’s command center being struck by a plane in the past. That isn’t just a tragedy, it is a national crisis. They tend to take that kind of thing seriously.
I’m especially amused that it appears Reeder is appalled and shocked at the Clinton administration this time.
Reeder, if you’ve ever lived in Washington DC (I don’t know that you have or haven’t) you would be aware that this sort of thing disrupts the lives of the poor citizens of that fair city (formerly mine) all the damn time. This sort of emergency training scenario is only surpassed for local annoyance by ka-jillions of people coming to DC to protest something.
Or, as I used to put it…“GO HOME!!! I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR CAUSE NO MATTER WHAT IT IS! GET OFF OUR TRAINS AND OUT OF OUR RESTAURANTS! GO AWAY! YOU’RE NOT WANTED HERE!!!”
God, protestors are annoying. To those guys it’s a political statement. To us it’s home.
This is a non-starter. Such things (literally) happen all the time. Get used to it.
I am neither appalled or shocked.
All I’m saying is the government had an idea it might happen.
Regardless of what Condi said.