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To: qveauriche who wrote (105731)	10/1/2001 6:47:10 PM
From: kech	Respond to of 152472

Wow - quite an article.

To: qveauriche who wrote (105731)	10/1/2001 7:58:26 PM
From: quartersawyer	Respond to of 152472

the most farsighted critic... Reuel Marc Gerecht theatlantic.com "The CIA probably doesn't have a single truly qualified Arabic-speaking officer of Middle Eastern background who can play a believable Muslim fundamentalist who would volunteer to spend years of his life with shitty food and no women in the mountains of Afghanistan. For Christ's sake, most case officers live in the suburbs of Virginia. We don't do that kind of thing." A younger case officer boils the problem down even further: "Operations that include diarrhea as a way of life don't happen."

To: qveauriche who wrote (105731)	10/1/2001 8:02:26 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Thanks for posting that article. It's interesting to see that at least some part of the British populace sees things clearly. It's easy to ridicule those who detest Clinton. While he may have been a mediocre President with respect to domestic affairs, he was an utter failure in the foreign and national security arenas. The WTC and Pentagon incidents could have occurred even if Clinton had been more conscious of national security concerns. Perhaps, however, they may not have, and he'll have to live with the possibility that his inaction led to thousands of deaths. Don't for a minute think it will bother him. His soul has been cheapened by living his life as a permanent political campaign since he was 18 years old. If you think he was bad, get ready for a serious Presidential bid on Hillary's part. If you think he was an ineffective leader in the foreign and national security fields, pray and hope that she doesn't gets elected. For anyone with an interest in seeing what kind of President she would make, I highly recommend the Barbara Olson book, Hell To Pay. She's a slick, corrupt, incredibly ambitious harridan whose Presidency would be a disaster for the U.S.

To: qveauriche who wrote (105731)	10/2/2001 7:30:52 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

I'm bemused by comments like this: <The most plausible answer is that nobody has been fired because this attack was so novel and impossible to predict that nothing in America's security apparatus could have prevented it. The only problem with this argument is that it is patently untrue. Throughout the Clinton years, this kind of attack was not only predictable but predicted. Not only had Bin Laden already attacked American embassies and warships, he had done so repeatedly and been completely frank about his war. He had even attempted to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993. Same guy, same building. To say that nobody could have anticipated this type of attack is simply to say that US intelligence wasn't good enough to have found it out. > Blaming Clinton, blaming the CIA, blaming the FBI. Apart from the actual outcome this is hilarious. It's like watching a Simpsons episode. The attack was extremely predictable. I have sat in aircraft, a few feet from the open cockpit door, thinking that I needed only to stand up, wield some small weapon and I'd have control on an airliner. The most moronic terrorist halfwit could figure it out. The failing was on the part of the airlines and pilots and ideas on what to do if a hijacker attacks. Now they are carrying the absurdity to new levels with 'after the horse has bolted' stable door shutting. For a start, cockpit doors should be shut and secured. Sure, they can be busted down with some effort. But when a pilot notices some problem, he can easily incapacitate or kill anyone not strapped in. The procedure is push the nose hard down. The loose objects fly up to the ceiling. Then, haul hard back and the loose objects are driven hard into the floor from a height of over 2 metres. That will dislodge their grip on any weapons they are holding. Then, send them back up to the ceiling. Then, smash them back down again. Passengers should always wear seatbelts in aircraft and should not have heavy loose objects to crash around the plane. Sure, it would be an uncomfortable flight, but the hijackers would get nowhere, then be tied down for the remainder of the trip [no need to divert to some nearby airport]. Hijackers would soon figure out that trying to hijack planes is unrewarding. The 'we surrender' co-operation approach is the fatal mistake. That's not Clinton's fault, or the CIA's, or anyone else's. The airlines have to stop bandits. They can easily do it and any idiot could have seen that airlines are vulnerable when they invite unknown "pilots" from other airlines into the cockpit and when they allow any wacko to decide to crash a plane full of people by leaving the door open and simply surrendering to any hijack threat. A few half-wit guys with box-cutters for god's sake!! There was no genius involved. It wasn't a brilliant plan. The only reason to say it was a brilliant plan is to avoid the implication that the people who should have prevented it are even more half-witted than the attackers; which is true. I recommend pilots shut the cockpit door. Also, that only aircrew approved beforehand have access to the cockpit. Also that if there is an attack, the pilots don't surrender but take all action, such as having a pistol full of plastic-covered iron pellets - an anti-personnel 4 metre range shotgun, necessary to subdue the attackers. Globalstar phones should be on aircraft so everyone is in communication. Busy signals should be avoided by using WackyWireless pricing. A lot of people died in WTC without phoning home because the cellphone services were full - maybe the plane which hit the Pentagon wouldn't have hit if the passengers had been able to get calls from friends and family telling them that 2 planes had hit WTC because then they would have known to attack the box-cutter pilots. Yep, US intelligence wasn't good enough to have found it out. US intelligence seems to have been on a par with Homer's intelligence. Now, lock the cockpit door! Give the pilot the said antipersonnel pistol [not a stupid police-type gun - that would just compound the lack of intelligence]. Bingo, no more hijackings. If any Arab-looking guys, [especially foreign nationals from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran etc,] want to fly, especially if they have an accent which isn't yankee, give them a body search for Semtex, Sarin etc. Reduce carry-on baggage to almost nothing so it can be searched easily. That will speed boarding and disembarking too and reduce delays at security checks. Mqurice PS: Profiling, whether racial or by age or anything else, is good! Though it does mean the bad guys could disguise themselves so it's not the sole answer. fredoneverything.net OOPs, I see that KenS and maybe others are sick of OT posts. Well, I suppose this is, except that Globalstar and CDMA phones should be allowed on aircraft.