Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (185413)	9/22/2001 1:42:10 PM
From: Thomas A Watson	Respond to of 769670

A compelling direct action cause and effect. Schundler: Clinton Military Cutbacks Left Twin Towers Defenseless Before devastating military cutbacks were implemented under the Clinton administration, New York City had air defenses that could have prevented the second of two attacks on the World Trade Center last week, New Jersey Republican gubenatorial candidate Bret Schundler charged Saturday. "Up until a few years ago we had an F-16 fighter wing here in New Jersey that would be capable of intercepting one of those planes that crashed into the World Trade Center," he told WABC Radio's John Gambling. "They decreased the number of wings that were available to do that. So the result was that the closest fighter wing that had the capability to intercept one of those planes was in Massachusetts." Two F-16's had scrambled out of Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod after World Trade Center Tower 1 was hit, but they didn't arrive in New York airspace until 15 minutes after United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into WTC Tower 2. "They couldn't get here in time," Schundler said. "And that's why the second plane flew into the World Trade Center." The unexpected collapse of Tower 2, the first to do down, was likely responsible for the majority of deaths at the scene -- catching hundreds of police and fireman, as well as thousands of office workers who had been told to stay put and wait for evacuation orders, completely unawares. Schundler pinned the blame for eliminating the air defenses that could have saved Tower 2 squarely on the Clinton administration. "The federal government in the last eight years cut down the resources," he told WABC. "That's just a statement of fact." Schundler was responding to a report in Saturday's New York Times, which he said distorted his earlier comments to make it appear as if he was blaming his own state for the military cutbacks. newsmax.com tom watson tosiwmee