02-15-2010, 06:50 AM | #41 (permalink) | |
Still Free
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Not a typo. It's about who COULD have been in the buildings, not who were. The WTC towers easily held 20K on a normal day - then you think of the Pentagon and the Capital (which would have been hit, had it not been for those on the plane.)
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02-15-2010, 08:12 AM | #43 (permalink) | |
Still Free
Location: comfortably perched at the top of the bell curve!
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Hence, one must assume they went on general population of the buildings and hoped to kill as many as possible. Which goes to Beck's point: if you truly question whether your government would attempt to exterminate 30K of their own people - that is the ONLY thing you should be focusing on. Anyone who is "unsure" whether the government played a role, as Medina stated, shouldn't worry about property taxes and such - they should worry about the government murdering its people. Beck, of course, does not believe in any government involvement.
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Gives a man a halo, does mead. "Here lies The_Jazz: Killed by an ambitious, sparkly, pink butterfly." Last edited by Cimarron29414; 02-15-2010 at 08:23 AM.. |
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02-15-2010, 12:09 PM | #44 (permalink) | |
Junkie
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Now, as for FDR and Pearl Harbor...sorry, not BS. The contention that FDR, probably the Sec. of War, and almost certainly the Sec. State were at least aware of an impending attack on US Pacific assets is widely accepted as a valid (if unproven) hypothesis within professional historical circles. These was considerable disagreement on the location of the attack: Pearl Harbor was considered too far for the IJN to sail without being detected, but attacks on US interests/bases in the Phillipines, or perhaps on Wake Island, were considered at least equally likely. It's telling to note that neither the Phillipine garrisons -nor- Wake Island had their defenses strengthened or upgraded*, despite the fact that War Dept. "White Papers" were circulating as early as 1938 and as late as Dec. of 1940 suggesting that such an attack was in the works. Of course, one must remember that this is the same War Dept. which so vigorously overlooked both Lt. Col. Mitchell's groundbreaking experiments with anti-ship airpower and the Battle Of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War, so a certain measure of institutional idiocy is also doubtless to blame. Additionally, such does little to account for the fact that repeated radar warnings were ignored or "spiked" by command on the ground at Pearl**, that the Japanese attempt (very old-school of them) to give 3hrs warning before the attack was likewise ignored, or that warnings of midget submarines entering Pearl Harbor were not only ignored but discounted for years, even after the USS Ward accurately reported engaging and sinking one such vessel. As regard the possession of Enigma codes; yes, most of the Japanese codes which were currently readable were Diplomatic. However, they were encoded and decoded using the same 3-rotor commercial Enigma machines used by the IJN and by much of the German military prior to 1940. This is the kind of intel you want to play -very- close to the vest. When the Abwehr added a fourth rotor in mid 1944, the intelligence loss it caused was so great that it allowed the planning and build-up for the Ardennes Offensive (Battle Of The Bulge) to take place in almost total secrecy. FDR and Churchill both knew, as to a lesser degree did De Gaulle and Stalin, that the preservation of this kind of intelligence was of absolutely paramount importance, and both men made horrible Solomonic decisions (as you acknowledge with Coventry) to protect it. As for FDR's second motivation for ensuring US entry into the war, it was very simple. He (and everyone else) knew that once the UK was conquered and occupied, the Atlantic would be wide open and the eastern US left vulnerable to attacks by the Kreigsmarine. At this point the Atom Bomb was only a theory, but the possibility of atomic attack may very well have entered into the discussion. Most importantly, FDR and Churchill both knew that, once the UK fell and British colonial interests in Africa and the Far East fell in German/Japanese hands, Germany would have both the materiel and the manpower to challenge the industrial capacities of the US and USSR. This would have been -especially- true if Albert Speer or someone similarly capable was at the helm. With such capacity, the US would not only be vulnerable to significant assault itself, but the USSR (already on shaky ground thanks to the Yezhovschina Purges, and with Stalin playing the weather-vane to Hitler's wind) would probably have been taken out of the fight by either military or economic/diplomatic means. In order to prevent the conquest of the UK and the loss of the Soviet Union, it was important for the US to enter the war quickly. It was equally important that such entry not be initiated against Germany. An American analogue to the NAZI party, complete with swastikas and brown shirts, was already enjoying rapid growth, and Fascist-esque penetration of the US popular media was already well advanced. FDR risked the real possibility of both losing England and losing his job if America was seen to be initiating conflict with the Nazis, especially since many Americans at the time regarded the Nazis as a disagreeable but needed bulwark against Bolshevism. It was therefore important that the declarations of war follow as they did: Japan attacks, US declares war on Japan, Germany declares war on US. As for Mr. Dewey retracting his statements, I have no doubt that he did. I also have no doubt that he had plenty of "help" from J. Edgar Hoover and his crowd of leg-breakers and blackmail specialists. We today have considerably more evidence that Dewey did, and much of it IMO points to at very least the passive compliance of the Rooseveldt administration for the above-outlined specific policy motives. *The poor Marines on Wake were still using '03A3 Springfield rifles and Brewster Buffalo fighters at the time of the Battle Of Wake Island! **And no, there is no way that hundreds of fighters approaching from the WEST were mistaken for five B-17 heavy bombers which were supposed to approach from the EAST. Last edited by The_Dunedan; 02-15-2010 at 12:14 PM.. |
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02-15-2010, 01:20 PM | #45 (permalink) | |
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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I know this may be heresy for some of you, but I think the attack was VERY carefully timed for two objectives: maximum media impact, and as little human casualty as possible. Doing it when most of the country is asleep would lose the primary objective of any mass terrorist attack, and that is a CRAPLOAD of attention RIGHT NOW. Doing it at around 9:00am ensures the media folks are awake and at work, and there ARE victims in the buildings, but the buildings are, at that time, about 1/10th full, as you point out. I've always assumed that the hijackers weren't actually interested in killing more people than they needed to, and my evidence for that has been the relatively early-in-the-day timing of the attack. If I were timing such an attack and wanted to keep my body count as low as I could, I'd pick some time between 8:00 and 9:00am (the first building was hit at about 8:45, the second at like 9:03). Otherwise, why not sleep in a little and do it in the early afternoon when the buildings are full? |
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02-15-2010, 02:24 PM | #47 (permalink) |
Still Free
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I'm having a difficult time following you guys. Are either of you saying that you believe the government was involved?
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Gives a man a halo, does mead. "Here lies The_Jazz: Killed by an ambitious, sparkly, pink butterfly." |
02-15-2010, 02:37 PM | #48 (permalink) | |
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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All I'm saying is, I think the timing of the thing lends a certain view to the attackers that has been overlooked, either deliberately or not, and that is that they picked a relatively low-victim-count time of day for their attack. I think it's clear they were out to do the thing with maximum visual shock-and-awe as a first objective, and as FEW human casualties as they could as a second objective. |
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02-15-2010, 02:47 PM | #49 (permalink) |
Addict
Location: Houston, Texas
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Why would they care how many people they killed? They obviously place no value on life, so I don't see why they wouldn't kill as many infidel as possible. If it's possible that they could have killed more, then maybe it's just a coincidence that they didn't.
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02-15-2010, 02:53 PM | #50 (permalink) |
Still Free
Location: comfortably perched at the top of the bell curve!
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I tend to agree with Pearl Trade. These people don't value life. I believe they truly wish there were more people in the building and that they killed many, many more of us. I don't think anyone who possessing enough hatred for a people to concoct, plan and execute such an act would give a second's consideration on mitigating death toll. I don't think we can begin to understand the hatred needed to justify such an act. We simply grew up in a place which values life and we want to project that value on others.
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Gives a man a halo, does mead. "Here lies The_Jazz: Killed by an ambitious, sparkly, pink butterfly." Last edited by Cimarron29414; 02-15-2010 at 02:58 PM.. |
02-15-2010, 02:58 PM | #51 (permalink) |
Junkie
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I think it's a pretty long stretch to argue that the 9/11 hijackers deliberately avoided civilian casualties. If they wanted to minimise loss of life, they would have called in warnings to Gov't agencies and media outlets, several of them, as the IRA did before several of its' more impressive fireworks shows. If they had wanted to minimise loss of life, they could simply have crashed the planes into open fields, or taken them out over the ocean. Instead, they selected as their primary targets two very large buildings with a HUGE head-count capacity. I doubt very seriously that they considered how many people would be there at which time: they just looked for the biggest box that can hold the most stuff and shot for that. And if they -had- been in such a mood....duh. NYC never sleeps, airports included. They could have done their little dance in the middle of the night, when the buildings would be as close to empty as anything in NYC ever is. They still would have had their "shock and awe;" two 100-story skyscrapers on fire in the middle of the night would have been a HUGE piece of S&A. But they didn't.
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02-15-2010, 03:35 PM | #52 (permalink) |
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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Perl Trade and Cimmaron's responses are textbook righty rhetoric, with absolutely zero thinking done from the perspective of the attackers. "They hate people and don't value life" is too shallow a level of thinking (if you can even call it that) to engage with, so I'm not going to bother.
As usual though, Dunedan makes interesting points. I can see "minimize casualties" isn't really quite what I meant to say. I guess I'm saying, it's not that they wanted ZERO casualties. I think they saw mass death as critical to making their point. But there's a difference between 3k and 30k victims. The question you're answering is "why 9am instead of 2 in the morning?", but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking, "why 9am instead of 2 in the afternoon?" Given the attack could have been a WHOLE lot worse in terms of lost life, and assuming the hijackers and/or their planners are no dummies, why DIDN'T they pick the time that would give them the most devastating body-count? "We were lucky" isn't a satisfying answer to this question, for me. You could get a team onto a quartet of planes out of Logan and JFK literally any hour of the day or night, if you don't care where they're going or what airline they are. Getting on planes at that hour meant, even back then, getting up at the ass-crack of dawn to check in and go through what was then known as security. It's not like it was a convenient hour for them. So why'd they pick it? They could have picked any time. Why 9am? I know that attributing to the 9/11 hijackers and planners any sort of thought for their victims completely short-circuits the synapses of many Americans. But I have to think they picked that time because they felt there would be enough casualties at that hour, and didn't feel the need to cause any more than enough. |
02-15-2010, 03:41 PM | #53 (permalink) | |
I Confess a Shiver
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And consider my synapses fried... I just spent the last couple years studying terrorism at cawl-edge and the goal of the greater global jihadist movement has always been to kill as many of whitey as possible in his own home. Suicide bombers are promoted. Nuclear weapons are on the table. There is no "enough." You don't think that the GJM would green light operations that killed as many adult (Muslim PR issues with killing kids) whities as possible? How did you arrive at the conclusion that those who slammed planes into the WTC and Pentagon were looking to reduce their bodycount? Because of the time the planes impacted? Because that side of the Pentagon was largely uninhabited due to renovation? Please explain, I'm totally lost here. You can't call me a "textbook righty." ... Also: Glenn Beck's a blubbering talking-head pussy like every other muppet on FOX/MSNBC/CNN. Last edited by Plan9; 02-15-2010 at 03:54 PM.. |
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02-15-2010, 04:06 PM | #54 (permalink) |
Who You Crappin?
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
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first, no....I don't believe the US Government had anything to do with the attack
second, I don't believe the goal of the terrorists was to minimize the death toll OR to kill as many people as possible. It's goal was to destroy three symbolic buildings; the WTC (commerce), the Pentagon (military) and the White House (political). The third was "sabotaged" by the passengers on board. in other words, the death toll (large or small) wasn't the first consideration in the orchestration of the attacks
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"You can't shoot a country until it becomes a democracy." - Willravel |
02-15-2010, 04:19 PM | #55 (permalink) | |||
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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Now: you tell me that the time of day of the attacks had some other explanation, I'm all ears. I'm just trying to think from where THEY might have been thinking from choosing that time. If you say they didn't have all that much choice in the matter, well I'm listening. I also think that "terrorism" (or guerilla war, as it used to be called) has changed a lot since 9/11 and our hamfisted reaction to it, and it might well be about body count these days. To be clear--I've never really articulated this, even for myself, before this thread. So I'm thinking this through myself. I don't have a real strong attachment to the conclusion I'm coming to at all, I just think we'd do well to think like those who attack us. Quote:
---------- Post added at 07:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:16 PM ---------- Quote:
As I said above, "We got off light, we were lucky, it was a coincidence"... these just don't satisfy me as answers to this question. I mean, they had to pick a time, didn't they? Why did they pick that one? The conclusion I can come to is, they didn't want (from their point of view) unnecessarily large loss of life. |
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02-15-2010, 04:20 PM | #56 (permalink) |
I Confess a Shiver
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Let's do this US Army NCO style:
Task: Take out symbolic targets in the US. Conditions: Global Jihadist agenda, devoted martyrs, splintered US LE / intel agencies / lax airline security, gigundo airplanes, targets, 24/7 global news media. Standard: Buildings destroyed, media circus, crazy redneck Americans rash call for blood from dem foreigners. Purpose: Further Global Jihadist movement by striking fear into Great Whitey. Direction: (itty bitty logistical details, time and date don't really matter as long as targets are destroyed, high body count is bonus) Motivation: 99 virgins. Last edited by Plan9; 02-15-2010 at 04:25 PM.. |
02-15-2010, 04:26 PM | #57 (permalink) | |
warrior bodhisattva
Super Moderator
Location: East-central Canada
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__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot Last edited by Baraka_Guru; 02-15-2010 at 04:28 PM.. |
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02-15-2010, 04:29 PM | #58 (permalink) | ||
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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---------- Post added at 07:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:28 PM ---------- Quote:
Glenn Beck Glenn Beck Baba Booey Baba Booey! |
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02-15-2010, 04:36 PM | #59 (permalink) |
I Confess a Shiver
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Well, this link explains all we need to know about our homeboy Glenn Beck.
... And a 0900 attack maximizes the amount of media coverage the average couch potato will watch that day before turning in at night. ... The title of this thread is hilarious because it only applies to those who would actually believe anything that came out of his tooth-filled faceanus. |
02-15-2010, 06:17 PM | #60 (permalink) | |
Addict
Location: Houston, Texas
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Like it's been said before, more bodies the better, but its just a bonus to the main goal. The main goal was to send a knife through our hearts. Some even believe that the main goal was to increase American presence in the Mid-East, leading to a general Islamic hatred of us.
__________________
Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.
Give me convenience or give me death! |
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02-15-2010, 07:52 PM | #61 (permalink) |
Who You Crappin?
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
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You really believe the extremists believe all of that? I'm of the opinion that the Taliban/Al Qaeda/whomever use the hardcore religious angle to keep the followers in line, but all they really want is power
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"You can't shoot a country until it becomes a democracy." - Willravel |
02-15-2010, 07:56 PM | #62 (permalink) | |
I Confess a Shiver
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Quote:
What does it matter who really believes what if it results in jumbo jets crashing into skyscrapers in the name of defeating the Infidel? What do you think motivated the 9/11 hijackers, Derwood? Something tells me it wasn't the dental benefits. Who gives a shit about what their bosses really believe if they can get grown men to crash planes into buildings. Of course it's all bullshit. Don't be silly. I don't think Al Qaeda ("Fragmented Core") believes their own drivel, no, but I don't believe that the US Army is an Army of One either. Slogans shouldn't be taken seriously, but crazed individuals who take them seriously enough to kill should. The terrorist mastermind is only dangerous because he makes his henchmen dangerous. It's all about putting on a good show to achieve power/control. Kinda like Glenn Beck. I'd imagine he's inspired some of his followers to do bad things. Maybe FOX News has Al Qaeda on the payroll to provide the sensational conflict content they need for old Beckyboo to stay on the air. Last edited by Plan9; 02-15-2010 at 08:02 PM.. |
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02-15-2010, 07:59 PM | #63 (permalink) |
Who You Crappin?
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
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of course they should be taken seriously. my point was that the whole "turrists hate our freedom" line of thinking is bullshit. 9/11 wasn't about murder.
okay, I'm done....sorry for the continued threadjack
__________________
"You can't shoot a country until it becomes a democracy." - Willravel |
02-15-2010, 08:19 PM | #65 (permalink) |
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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You're still not thinking, Pearl Trade, but it's great how you're trying to. Here's a hint. Actual thinking results in new thoughts. I had a new thought a page or so up on this thread, and we batted it around a while. I'm not convinced about it, but one of the effects of thinking is that you can hold a thought lightly in mind and not get hung up on the truth or untruth of it.
You asked a great question. Why WOULD they attack us? If you set down all the answers you already know ("already knowing" is absolutely antithetical to what I'm calling "thinking") and start just sort of wondering about that question, why before long buddy, you'll be THINKING! Actual thinking is very rare among humans and other great apes. Bertrand Russel: "Most people would rather die than think, and most of them do." Arguably, you could say that the moderators have stepped in and put a stop to any thinking on this thread--at least down the lines we're now discussing. So... We may need to take this elsewhere. |
02-16-2010, 06:32 AM | #66 (permalink) | |
Still Free
Location: comfortably perched at the top of the bell curve!
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What other human emotion motivates a person to slash the throats of women serving Coke to children, hack up pilots, and fly a 747 into a building filled with thousands of people, men, women and children? Find me the complex intellectual thought behind that motivation. The fact that I summarize it to a single word does not mean that I wasn't thinking. ...and perhaps, since we all get to witness your thinking outloud now, perhaps, just perhaps, the 8:00 hour was the only time in the day where four large passenger planes were leaving at roughly the same time and had the required fuel amounts for the mission - a load large enough to take the plane across country. There, since you are "thinking about it for the first time now"....eight years later, perhaps you should add that to your algorithm. Now, if someone wanted to minimize...er, as you put it...not maximize casualties...why not just hijack some puddle jumpers from the Atlanta to Charlotte run and use them? Don't answer that, the smoke from your thinking is stinking up the place.
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Gives a man a halo, does mead. "Here lies The_Jazz: Killed by an ambitious, sparkly, pink butterfly." Last edited by Cimarron29414; 02-16-2010 at 06:34 AM.. |
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02-16-2010, 07:02 AM | #67 (permalink) | |
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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I love our moderators, they do amazing work, and everyone makes mistakes including most DEFINITELY me. |
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02-16-2010, 07:49 AM | #68 (permalink) |
Junkie
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If they wanted to minimize casualties they could have done it on a holiday. This would likely have also increased the media attention as everyone would be glued to their TV's instead of at work. Also they could have picked high profile/low death targets (washington monument, statue of liberty, etc). The terrorists wanted to kill a lot of people. The early AM flight could have been due to a couple of reasons. 1) That is when a bunch of long distance flights in the largest airplanes took off at the same time, 2) where they could get the tickets they wanted, 3) just because, 4) wanted to catch everyone in their cars and bring new york to a stand still, etc
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02-16-2010, 07:51 AM | #69 (permalink) | |
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. |
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02-16-2010, 08:01 AM | #71 (permalink) |
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Nothing. All of them are entertainers via Opinion Editorial pages, but moving and talking heads.
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. |
02-16-2010, 08:11 AM | #73 (permalink) | |
Still Free
Location: comfortably perched at the top of the bell curve!
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Does anyone know her poll numbers this week? dksuddeth?
---------- Post added at 11:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 AM ---------- Quote:
Limbaugh - only radio Hannity - radio and TV Beck - radio and TV Limbaugh and Hannity - 100% GOP all the way Beck - both parties are bad, vote for people who have integrity and share your values Limbaugh and Hannity - GOP wins in November and the country keeps chugging along Beck - path is unsustainable, build a bunker, fill it with food and water. Doesn't matter who is in power - they are both the same.
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Gives a man a halo, does mead. "Here lies The_Jazz: Killed by an ambitious, sparkly, pink butterfly." |
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02-16-2010, 08:15 AM | #74 (permalink) |
I Confess a Shiver
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Honestly, I'm not trying to be a dick. We're all followers of one type of gospel or another to a large extent.
I just wanted the perspective of someone who had enough experience with this side to explain it. Your summary, however accurate it may be, probably saved me about 3 hours on Google. I appreciate it. |
02-16-2010, 08:57 AM | #75 (permalink) |
Crazy, indeed
Location: the ether
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Beck is as much a GOP shill as the other two. It's just a slightly different type of GOP he shills for. Limbaugh and Hannity are 100% GOP all the way, indeed. Beck is fringe conspiracy GOP, but still GOP. Heck, in the radio show that started this thread the guy ends up endorsing Rick Perry.
The difference between Beck and Limbaugh and Hannity is the fringe conspiracy part. And I'm not talking "Obama is a secret Muslim" type of conspiracy, but the "there is a conspiracy for a one world government going on and that can be traced back to communist Rockefeller" type of conspiracy. |
02-16-2010, 09:05 AM | #76 (permalink) | |
Junkie
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02-16-2010, 09:07 AM | #77 (permalink) |
Lover - Protector - Teacher
Location: Seattle, WA
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I'm confused. I thought everyone knew Glenn Beck was a shill for the GOP/teabaggers?
I think the real news is about whether or not he raped two girls in 1990.. DidGlennBeckRapeAndMurderAYoungGirlIn1990.com: Home Page
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02-16-2010, 09:35 AM | #78 (permalink) | ||
Lennonite Priest
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
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The site itself kind of uses the tactics Beck does and throws them right back at him.
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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?" |
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02-16-2010, 09:43 AM | #79 (permalink) |
Asshole
Administrator
Location: Chicago
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Pan, look over there. That thing zooming by? That's the point. I think you missed it.
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beck, fooled, glenn |
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