September 11
I think everything went exactly according to Al Qaeda's plans September 11th. I think people need to realize this. Three planes hit their primary targets, one achieved it's secondary objective, and there were only four planes with terrorists on them.
After reading "Lets Roll!" about Todd Beamer and United flight 93, the flight that went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, it seems the brave passengers may never have actually made it inside the cockpit when they rushed it. They did prevent flight 93 from reaching its primary target in Washington D.C. and I in no way intend to belittle the heroism and selfless bravery of all the passengers and crew involved. They did save countless lives on the ground -- that is beyond question. It is unclear though whether they actually got inside the cockpit -- but at a minimum they forced the terrorists to their secondary objective, which I believe was to put the plane into a nosedive and fly it into the ground. There was a struggle inside the cockpit -- among the terrorists. After the plane started its dive, at least one of the terrorists was shouting "give it to me!", meaning the controls. Even if the passengers and crew never got into the cockpit, they forced Al Qaeda to its secondary objective with flight 93 -- yes, saving countless lives in Washington, but even on flight 93, Al Qaeda may well have been in control until the end.
Why do I think there were only 4 flights with terrorists aboard? Why there were not any more? Two reasons. First, reasoning that flying the hijacked plane into the ground was "plan B", plan C may have been simply to kill as many aboard the plane as possible with the box cutters. This did not happen when all flights were grounded, so all the terrorists must have been airborne by then. You may suggest that once grounded, any terrorists on a grounded plane gave up their plans. That is doubtful just because these people are fanatics and this was their big day -- the day of their coordinated strike. They wouldn't just abandon their plans and hope to hide in the shadows. More significantly though, my second reason, had any terrorists been stuck on grounded flights and then caught in the big post 9/11 round-up, the Bush administration would absolutely want us to know this. They would want us to know that a) they had made this real achievement in the war on terrorism, and b) that grounding all flights was the right thing to do and had prevented further death and devastation. It was the right thing to do, it just came too late. 10 minutes or so too late, as flight 93 had been delayed with mechanical problems I believe, and only took off just a few minutes before all flights were grounded.
So since there was no slaughter on a grounded plane, and I never heard that any more terrorists were caught as a result of the grounding of all flights, there were only four planes with terrorists aboard, and all four made it into the air. September 11th was a complete success for Al Qaeda.
And a complete tragedy for us. The real tragedy is the children who lost parents, the parents who lost children, the spouses who lost the one they love, and the brothers and sisters lost. Words cannot express the tragedy.
This thing in Beslan, Russia, This is their September 11. Words again fail me. It's just as bad as September 11, in its way. Much worse, in its way. So, so much worse than Columbine. To attack a school... Children... My heart goes out to all the parents who lost children, the children who lost parents, the spouses who lost the one they love, and the brothers and sisters lost.
So many "advances" in warfare bring hatred to a new, shocking low. When the crossbow was invented it was banned by the Catholic Church, it was thought such a horrific weapon. Now we're so jaded -- gatling guns, mustard gas, guerilla warfare, atomic bombs, flying planes into buildings, and attacking school children -- so jaded we actually look back on the crossbow with nostalgia. What further horrors will we have to unleash upon each other before those in some future look back on turning a hijacked plane into a missile as quaint?