Re: war pastiche

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 03:58 PM 9/13/01 -0500, you wrote:
> William Safire reports that Bush wanted to fly back to Washington from
> Florida the morning of September 11. "I don't want some tinhorn
> terrorists keeping me out of Washington." Then, a message was
> intercepted that said, "Air Force One is next." (Could the hijacked
> planes have been in communication with radio?) The terrorists had
> apparently used code words that indicated they knew the President's
> whereabouts and procedures. (What could the "President's procedures"
> mean?) Does this indicate that they knew more information than the
> media provided? Do they have an American official who is feeding them
> information? Ultimately, officials believe, the plane that crashed in
> Pennsylvania was headed for either the White House or Air Force One.
>
> Perhaps the hijackers in UAL Flight 93 planned to meet Air Force One in
> the air as it flew back to Washington. IMHO, in a world where Tom
> Clancy is suddenly prescient, it's time to buckle down a little....

Tom Clancy looks better today than he did on Monday, but frankly the whole
bit about attacking the White House and (especially) Air Force One sounds
like it was cooked up to explain why Shrubya didn't fly back to the White
House right away.

> Maybe President Bush is taking the threat on his life personally. He
> was holding back tears while he said we would achieve "Victory,
> victory," today. ABC is now covering a White House press conference.
> They are expanding the White House perimeter to keep the journalists
> farther away.

People like Bush are _always_ chomping at the bit to be hawkish. The
terrorism just unleashed his inner hawk.

> The defense complex is leaking like a sieve. Trial balloons are being
> floated like a hot air convention. One proposal is to call up 40,000
> National Guard troops (reservists). Furthermore, "Americans know now
> that we are at war." Senator John McCain.

they leak in order to make a statement. Most leaks seem to be done as a
matter of government policy (or are done by a faction within the government
to push their policy).

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine