United 93, again
I just watched United 93 again in recognition of the five-year anniversary, or something. It doesn't get any easier. If anything I felt it even more intensely this time. I also paid more attention to some of the details.
I've already said my piece on the consipiracy theory aspect of this story. In that post, I stressed that it is important to keep in mind that this is one man's interpretation of what happened. But I think we can assume that most of the key elements of the timeline are represented accurately, as they have been corroborated by multiple sources.
So today I'd like to talk about the military's role in the events of that day, as depicted in the film. As soon as the NORAD commander confirms that hijackers are flying commercial airliners into buildings in Manhattan, he gives the order to scramble fighters from Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. Some time later we hear him complaining that he can't protect the whole Eastern Seaboard with four planes. When it becomes apparent that Washington DC is also a target, he wastes no time in scrambling fighters from Langley AFB in Virginia. Soon after he is told that Langley was only able to scramble two fighters, and they are unarmed.
So here we are. The US spends almost as much money on its military as all other countries in the world combined (see Why We Fight). It's called the Department of Defense. Where's the defense? Our nation's capital is under attack, and the best we can come up with is two unarmed planes? Following 9/11 the general feeling was that we should cut the military some slack because this was a totally unprecedented attack and the hijackers were using our own domestic flights as cruise missiles. Well, that's all true.
Nevertheless, some sort of air attack on the continental US is not beyond the realm of possibility. Certainly it is something for which we should be prepared, if in fact we have any intention of being reasonably prepared to defend our homeland.
Since 9/11 we've allocated over $300 billion just for the war in Iraq.
I wonder how much we've spent on defense?
I've already said my piece on the consipiracy theory aspect of this story. In that post, I stressed that it is important to keep in mind that this is one man's interpretation of what happened. But I think we can assume that most of the key elements of the timeline are represented accurately, as they have been corroborated by multiple sources.
So today I'd like to talk about the military's role in the events of that day, as depicted in the film. As soon as the NORAD commander confirms that hijackers are flying commercial airliners into buildings in Manhattan, he gives the order to scramble fighters from Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. Some time later we hear him complaining that he can't protect the whole Eastern Seaboard with four planes. When it becomes apparent that Washington DC is also a target, he wastes no time in scrambling fighters from Langley AFB in Virginia. Soon after he is told that Langley was only able to scramble two fighters, and they are unarmed.
So here we are. The US spends almost as much money on its military as all other countries in the world combined (see Why We Fight). It's called the Department of Defense. Where's the defense? Our nation's capital is under attack, and the best we can come up with is two unarmed planes? Following 9/11 the general feeling was that we should cut the military some slack because this was a totally unprecedented attack and the hijackers were using our own domestic flights as cruise missiles. Well, that's all true.Nevertheless, some sort of air attack on the continental US is not beyond the realm of possibility. Certainly it is something for which we should be prepared, if in fact we have any intention of being reasonably prepared to defend our homeland.
Since 9/11 we've allocated over $300 billion just for the war in Iraq.
I wonder how much we've spent on defense?
Comments
Anyone that tells you that the decisions this country makes is based on anything other than money is either lying to you (government) or incredibly stupid.
We are all at fault for September 11 in a way, and to think otherwise is...well, being like most Americans. Dumb. If we say nothing, if we do nothing...then we're going to be in for more of the same.
The system is here, and it's time to make some noise.