On 17 Sep 2003 00:42:37 GMT, (Andre Lieven)
wrote:

I don't agree. Ramming was an option, and evidently one that was
seriously considered.

Cite ?

Well, just type September 11 and ramming into Google and see what you
get. For example:

U.S. pondered ramming airliners
'In heat of moment, all suggestions considered'

Robert Burns
Associated Press


Saturday, August 31, 2002

CP Files / National Guard F-16 patrols over New York City after the
attack.


WASHINGTON -- Moments after the Sept. 11 attacks, a U.S. air defence
commander considered sending pilots in unarmed air force fighter jets
on suicide missions to ram any other hijacked airliners.

No such missions were ordered, nor did the commander, Air Force Col.
Robert Marr, ask his superiors in the North American Aerospace Defence
Command for authority to issue such orders.

"It was a thought that went through his mind," said Marr's
spokeswoman, Lt.-Col. Kacey Blaney.

Marr said Friday the idea of ramming any additional hijacked airliners
-- beyond those that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the
one that crashed in Pennsylvania -- came up as he and aides huddled in
their command centre to consider the crisis that was unfolding.

At that moment, it was unclear how many hijackings would occur, and
Marr knew he had only four armed fighter jets available in his area of
responsibility, called the Northeast Air Defence Sector, stretching
from Minnesota to Maine to Virginia.

"In the heat of the moment, all suggestions were considered, but no
decision was made to employ unarmed fighters" as battering rams, Marr
said in a statement provided by Blaney.

The fact that the United States had only a small number of armed
fighter jets on air defence duty on Sept. 11 reflects that in the
aftermath of the Cold War, aerial attacks were considered a minimal
threat. Also, the U.S. military never before had the mission of
defending against domestic aerial attack.

For months after Sept. 11, combat air patrols were flown continuously
over Washington and New York. Such patrols are now periodic, and
fighter jets are on short-notice alert at bases across the country.

Marr first disclosed that he had considered this last-ditch tactic in
an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., which is preparing
to air a documentary on the events of Sept. 11.

In his statement Friday, Marr said it was his responsibility to
consider even the most extreme measures.

"An airman asked to make the ultimate sacrifice in defence of his
country is no more or less than the soldier asked to storm the beaches
at Normandy," he said.

Unsure how many attacks might follow those on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon, Marr diverted unarmed Michigan Air National Guard
fighter jets that happened to be flying a training mission in northern
Michigan at the time of the first attack, but they were released after
the fourth hijacked plane went down in Pennsylvania.

"There was a push to get everything available in the air," to defend
the skies after the attacks began, said Maj. Barry Venable, spokesman
for the North American Aerospace Defence Command, the parent unit of
Marr's command.



all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

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