Hi Splinx,

Yes we probably should've gotten planes into the air quicker. However, America's defenses were not high. We expect more attacks on our interests elsewhere around the world and pursue due diligence, but on the mainland it was just another day and just another bunch of possible glitches and a headache for controllers.

The thought of terrorist action likely literally did not occur until after the first plane hit and even then many probably thought it was some sort of horrible accident.

Only after the second hit did the reality sink in - not an accident.

The shooting down of a passenger plane full of citizens and visitors would not have been an option considered until the second plane hit. Even then the planes would have been warned first and atempted to be nudged back to a forced landing somewhere.

The folks who talk about terrorists and action in the US are discounted - much the same way my posts warning of a simultaneous nuclear attack on all our major cities are discounted. And for good reason. The chances are statistically small. Yet right now enough finished missing nuclear weapons and exploitable weapons grade uranium are missing to destroy the 15 largest cities in America.

But it seems implausible and far-fetched and so did the idea of knife wielding terrorists flying planes into the WTC and Pentagon, prior to 9-11.

The Air Force is being retrofitted as a airborne terrorist interceptor agency, as we speak (post), and they did an admirable job of providing cover for our cities and important installations for many months after 9-11.

No one likes to look at people and see evil. To look at all arabs as terrorists or all shoppers as shoplifters is the job of a small group of people who have to look through threat-tinted glasses.

Yes, some folks dropped the ball. The airlines, the immigration department - big time, the intelligence agencies, the defense department and the list goes on and on.

I think it is more constructive to apply due diligence now than waste time castigating the ball-droppers.

We face many and infinite number of serious threats. Our free society is an open doorway for those with evil and harm on their minds. However, we must always hold our positive efforts on behalf of the world as our goal and not get too mired in isolationism or fear, lest we attract through our obsession more of the same.

Bush has been advised that we could not secure our borders appreciably to deter regular terrorist acts. The only thing we can do is actively disrupt the global operations of those who seek our destruction.

The best defense IS a good offense.

Playing a defensive game of chess is to lose. Whether one loses quickly or slowly the defensive posture will assuredly lose. Only an offensive posture against active aggressors is proven to work, disabling their capacity to commit aggression.

My ten cents,

SDAI-Tech1

PS Glad to see you posting more!