Apparently the Taliban has been watching too much 24 and has decided that if Tony Todd and 12 other guys can do it, so can they.
It is to laugh. It is to laugh so hard it causes pain. Bring it on bitches! Come to the most heavily defended residence in the universe and try to stir up shit. I bet they wouldn’t get within three blocks much less past the gate.
Now of course there is very little detail out there about what WH security is like for obvious good reason. I checked the topic out a bit when I was nitpicking that ridiculous 24 episode (and probably made some friends at the Secret Service too… hi guys!) But suffice to say what little information there is suggests that the absolute worst, stupidest, hardest target in the history of mankind is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
What the Taliban should have done is played some original Command & Conquer. If you play as Nod you quickly piss off one of Kane’s lieutenants and he orders you to attack the White House. Kane executes him immediately for even suggesting it.
i believe they tried that one already. bin laden wanted the white house over the capital. the capital was considered the easier target and the flight that crashed in pa was heading there.
According to Tom Clancy’s Debt of Honor the Capitol is an easy target. Fly towards Andrews AFB, turn left and straight on until destruction. The WH is not so easy. It’s a very small building compared to the literally hard to miss 110-story tall Twin Towers.
However, in light of recent events I’m sure the Secret Service has prepared for this. There’s a ton of badass aviation assets all over the area (Oceana NAS, Pax River, Andrews AFB, etc) and I’d be very surprised if there isn’t a Combat Air Patrol over DC 24/7. So while it remains possible that some very motivated terrorist could hijack a heavy jetliner and head for DC it remains equally unlikely that this trick would actually work.
Well you do realize the White House has been attacked and burned to the ground before right? Granted that was in 1812, but hey, it proves it ain’t invulnerable.
I have a hard time believing this. There have to be more more heavily guarded areas in the country, if not the world. You can walk right up to the gate and see the White House. Try doing that with a number of military bases in the country.
The White House is an easy target if you’ve got the right weapons. You could drop a guided bomb from altitude miles away. You could use artillery. All sorts of things. I’m not going to go into detail.
But a direct assault by ground troops is a pretty dumb move.