Why was the USAF.....................

Mike Marron wrote:

"mg" wrote:

In what far fetched way could the USAF have prevented 9/11?

A preemptive strike, perhaps? Recall the Israeli attack on the Osiraq
nuclear powerplant near Baghdad back in 1981.

Christ! am I ever glad that you aren't in any position of power
Mr Marron.
--

-Gord.

"Gord Beaman" ) wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

A preemptive strike, perhaps? Recall the Israeli attack on the Osiraq
nuclear powerplant near Baghdad back in 1981.

Christ! am I ever glad that you aren't in any position of power
Mr Marron.

Spoken like the true Canuck wussy that you are. Whattsa' matter Gordo,
jealous because when the doctors performed exploratory surgery in your
lower groin area looking for testicles they couldn't find any?

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 05:30:45 GMT, Mike Marron
wrote:

AFAIK, nobody knew
what was about to happen back on Sept. 11, 2001, but that's the
whole point!

“The Man Who Knew”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl.../synopsis.html

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 05:30:45 GMT, Mike Marron
wrote:

Clark stillnospam@me wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

So, the USAF is exempt from any blame whatsoever for the 9/11 attacks?

Have you seen the Brett Farve commercial about telling people what they
should have done?

Uhh, no.

Do you see any similarity between your comments and "monday
morning quarterbacking"?

Again, my answer is "no." Answering a question with a question is a
transparent method of dodging the original question. Furthur, this has
nothing to do with any "monday morning quarterbacking." Even after
the event more than two years later, what happened on 9/11 is still to
this day almost impossible to comprehend. AFAIK, nobody knew
what was about to happen back on Sept. 11, 2001, but that's the
whole point! In my ever-so-humble opinion, ALL branches of the
military INCLUDING our beloved USAF and also our so-called
"intelligence" communities quite frankly dropped the ball BIG
time, just like I said. Granted, the stunning victories by our
military and intelligence communities in Afghanistan and also in the
more recent "Shock & Awe" campaign in Iraq is fantastic news,
but this good news will forever be tempered by the thousands
who died during the WTC and Pentagon attacks on 9/11.


I tend to ask these questions a lot of you sorts, and get stunning
silence in return, but we'll try again.

How did the Air force "Drop the ball?". Specifically, how did it
drop the ball.
Are you stating that there should have been armed CAP around New
York, with orders to shoot down airliners?
Do you have any idea of just how many THOUSAND leads involving
potential attacks on the U.S. move through the intelligence community?
Seperating the dross from teh chaff is a full time job and it is not
always successful.
Also, can you explain why the USAF should have gotten involved ina
federal crime? Pre-9/11 they had some peripheral involvement, but
nothing like the direct linkage you seem to imagine.
Yes, up until 9/11, hijackings went like this.
Arabic/Japanese/White fellow stands up and shouts, "This plane is
going to Havana, Senors!". The pilots smile and nod, and the
stewardesses work to keep everyone calm. If some lunatic wants to
charge the hijackers, they'll try to dissuade him.
Why?
Because before 9/11 you were a HELL of a lot more likely to survive
if you cooperated. The hijackers generally had requrests, and wanted
to make a political statement-- body count was not hte main objective.
The reason-- the ONLY reason for the revolt on the last airliner was
that the timeing was off just enough for the passengers to find out
that this was NOT a typical hijacking. You'll note, the plane
crashed-- if it had been a typical hijacking, we'd all be wondering
why they did such a suicidal thing.
Than there's the matter of timing-- the air force doesn't know
there's going to be a hijacking, because if they did, the hijackers
would have been seized at the airports.
When the first plane hits, they *still* don't know there's a
hijacking, because most everyone thought it was a crash. When the
SECOND plane hit, they knew something was up, and quickly ordered
every plane down. Now what? You're looking for potential enemy
planes, but you CANNOT simply give a blanket shootdown order until you
give the friendlies a chance to land.
In any case, the USAF wasn't even involved in this until the planes
were inthe air, so if any dropped the ball, it was the FBI/CIA...but
there's one final point.

Bad guys are smart. Bin Laden is a very Smart SOB, and he has
people who are not afraid to die for him. He's not an idiot like
Hussein, more's the pity.
There is a desire in any nation, but I think it's especially
prevalent in the U.S. to assume that any failure means "We screwed
up." because then once you figure out what YOU did wrong, the problems
solved.
In reality, Al Qaeda located a blind spot, and exploited it. They
were smart, and scored one on us. It's much more comforting to say
that they were idiots who only succeeded through dint of OUR blindness
than to admit that yes, we are fighting some fairly bright and scary
people.

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 06:23:07 GMT, Mike Marron
wrote:

Mark and Kim Smith wrote:

[snip]

Question: Your are in charge of the air force in 2001. What would you
have done to prevent 9/11 from occuring?

Pre-9/11 Intelligence or *today's* beefed up Intelligence and Homeland
Security?
Obviously Pre-9/11, Mike.
If we could enlist prophets into the Air Force, avoiding 9/11's
wouldn't be very diffucult. Unfortunately, intelligence people do not
have such an advantage.

From: Mike Marron



So, the USAF is exempt from any blame whatsoever for the 9/11 attacks?


The USAF has no internal U.S. combat function in time of peace. If you MUST
place blame do it elsewhere.

If you are suggesting once the attacks were underway the USAF could stop them
you really do need to explain how.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

From: Mike Marron

In my ever-so-humble opinion, ALL branches of the
military INCLUDING our beloved USAF and also our so-called
"intelligence" communities quite frankly dropped the ball BIG
time, just like I said.

I suggest you read up on the Air Force's missions. Start with the definition
of strategic intel.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

From: Mike Marron
Date: 1/7/2004 6:52 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

"Pete" wrote:
"Mike Marron" wrote

The original poster asked a reasonable question

Reasonable? As written, this troll is more along the lines of "When did you
stop beating your wife?"

Of course you're correct. Let's disregard the manner in which the
question was asked (the original poster asked, "Why was the USAF stood
down on 9/11?") and simply ask instead something along the lines of;
"Why was the USAF unable to prevent 9/11?"


The orignal poster has no idea of what standing down means.

Your suggestion that the USAF was somehow at fault for 9/11 is offensive and it
shows you have no idea what the USAF's job is.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

From: Mike Marron
Date: 1/8/2004 12:55 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

"Gord Beaman" ) wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

A preemptive strike, perhaps? Recall the Israeli attack on the Osiraq
nuclear powerplant near Baghdad back in 1981.

Christ! am I ever glad that you aren't in any position of power
Mr Marron.

Spoken like the true Canuck wussy that you are. Whattsa' matter Gordo,
jealous because when the doctors performed exploratory surgery in your
lower groin area looking for testicles they couldn't find any?

Marion, no need to stoop to tarver's level.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

"Mike Marron" wrote in message
...
(OXMORON1) wrote:

[snip]

The whole intelligence community was screwed up and the only good that I
see
from 9/11 is posibly the system will be cleaned up in the future.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the USAF an integral part of the
intelligence community? If yes, then doesn't the USAF share the
blame for 9/11?

The USAF intel community has very little, if any, resources directed at
domestic terrorism. You see, the USAF generally concerns itself with the
activities of foreign military forces. Its mostly the FBIs job to hunt down
terrorists in the USA.

Get a clue before you run around blaming everyone in sight.