More on the WTC Disaster (Updated) [Sep 11, 2001, 8:30 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Of course this is not game related (we do not expect to be doing any further
game coverage today), but with the legit news sites being almost impossible to
access at times today, we've been getting loads of requests for more information
about what's been going on. Here is the latest as of about 9:00 PM EDT:
- President Bush addressed the nation 8:30 PM EDT. Here's a wire report: WASHINGTON (AP) - A grim-faced President Bush condemned ghastly attacks in Washington and New York on Tuesday and vowed to "find those responsible and bring them to justice." In the second Oval Office address of his presidency, Bush said the United States would retaliate against ``those behind these evil acts,'' and any country that harbors them.
To recap:
- In two separate attacks, hijacked planes struck both main towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan this morning, and both of the "twin towers" subsequently collapsed.
- A hijacked plane struck the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and part of it has collapsed as well.
- A hijacked plane crashed in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Reports indicate the hijackers planned to crash this plane into Camp David in Maryland.
- 47 Story WTC building seven, one of the five (relatively) smaller buildings in the World Trade Center also later collapsed from ancillary damage.
- The White House, the Pentagon, and the Capitol Building were all evacuated, all domestic flights in the US have been grounded through at least noon tomorrow.
- Other closings include most federal offices, the stock markets, the Disney theme parks, and the cancellation of today's Major League Baseball schedule. The President's speech announced that all federal agencies will be open for business tomorrow.
- Broadcasts out of Afghanistan showed evidence of missile attacks and antiaircraft fire, but what connection this has to today's apparent terrorist attacks in the US is not clear at this point. The US has denied involvement in these attacks.
- In the first hints of any sort at the scope of casualties, the New York City Fire Department has estimated that as many as half of the 400 firefighters dispatched to the scene are missing. CNN has said that 78 Police officers are missing. Also, the death toll from those on the four hijacked planes has been placed at 266. The number of dead and injured at the Pentagon has been widely reported as about 100. No estimates of the number of victims from the World Trade Center have been made.
- People throughout the United States have are being urged to donate blood to help offset significant shortages in New York and Washington. The American Red Cross in Greater New York or the American Red Cross are places to contact about donating blood or money, or both.
- Some news sites seem to be back online. Here are some links that have been more reliable: CNN.com; CNET.com; Yahoo; The New York Times; washingtonpost.com; usnews.com; ABCNEWS.com; FOXNews.com; MSNBC; and BBC News Online.
All of our thoughts go out to the victims of these attacks and their families and friends in what must be an incredibly difficult time.
Where do I even begin...
Of course Bush and his team (and their allies in Europe and elsewhere) have intelligence. In fact, our new "ally" Pakistan has said it has a lot of intelligence on Afghanistan that it will share with us. Additionally, suppose Bush knows that there are X terrorist cells in such-and-such places. Do you think he's going to go on TV and say so? This is not a one-man operation here -- you have the FBI, CIA, NSA, armed forces, NATO allies, and others working on the case. You can be sure they have accumulated a lot of intelligence already.
No, this terrorist attack was not the end of the world. Well, actually it was for the 1000s of dead and their families. But how many attacks do we need to suffer before retaliation is warranted? Bombings at embassies in Africa, the USS Cole, the WTC, the Pentagon, the barracks in Somalia (if I remember right)? Should we wait until a suitcase nuke detonates in YOUR neighborhood before we punish these bastards? We should have gone after Bin Laden and his cohorts back in the 1990s when he called for jihad against the United States (and the rest of the civilized world, for that matter). Now we're paying the price.
And besides, if Bush really wanted to drop bombs for the sake of dropping bombs, he could have done that on Tuesday. There are already troops and a couple aircraft carriers over there in the Persian Gulf.
As far as the experiences the Russians and British had in the hills of Afghanistan are concerned... Yes, you are 100% correct, they were creamed, and I suspect as you do that the Allies in the coming weeks/months/years will have serious casualties. But think back for a moment what Reagan did to Lybia -- he bombed the hell out of the place until Kadafi <sp> had enough. Heck, we had to kill the man's daughter before he cried uncle. Even today Kadafi is basically off the radar. If we drop a lot bombs all over the Taliban's HQ and on Kabul I feel very confident it will be effective. They'll hand over any and all terrorists we demand. Violence is the only language that these people understand.
If we don't eradicate terrorists now they will keep coming and coming. These people don't fear death and they won't stop until they are all dead, or we're dead, whichever comes first. You can't reason with someone who doesn't respond to reason.
Of course Bush and his team (and their allies in Europe and elsewhere) have intelligence. In fact, our new "ally" Pakistan has said it has a lot of intelligence on Afghanistan that it will share with us. Additionally, suppose Bush knows that there are X terrorist cells in such-and-such places. Do you think he's going to go on TV and say so? This is not a one-man operation here -- you have the FBI, CIA, NSA, armed forces, NATO allies, and others working on the case. You can be sure they have accumulated a lot of intelligence already.
No, this terrorist attack was not the end of the world. Well, actually it was for the 1000s of dead and their families. But how many attacks do we need to suffer before retaliation is warranted? Bombings at embassies in Africa, the USS Cole, the WTC, the Pentagon, the barracks in Somalia (if I remember right)? Should we wait until a suitcase nuke detonates in YOUR neighborhood before we punish these bastards? We should have gone after Bin Laden and his cohorts back in the 1990s when he called for jihad against the United States (and the rest of the civilized world, for that matter). Now we're paying the price.
And besides, if Bush really wanted to drop bombs for the sake of dropping bombs, he could have done that on Tuesday. There are already troops and a couple aircraft carriers over there in the Persian Gulf.
As far as the experiences the Russians and British had in the hills of Afghanistan are concerned... Yes, you are 100% correct, they were creamed, and I suspect as you do that the Allies in the coming weeks/months/years will have serious casualties. But think back for a moment what Reagan did to Lybia -- he bombed the hell out of the place until Kadafi <sp> had enough. Heck, we had to kill the man's daughter before he cried uncle. Even today Kadafi is basically off the radar. If we drop a lot bombs all over the Taliban's HQ and on Kabul I feel very confident it will be effective. They'll hand over any and all terrorists we demand. Violence is the only language that these people understand.
If we don't eradicate terrorists now they will keep coming and coming. These people don't fear death and they won't stop until they are all dead, or we're dead, whichever comes first. You can't reason with someone who doesn't respond to reason.
Date
Subject
Author
590.
Sep 15, 2001Sep 15 2001
Re: Hold your horses
anon@24.185
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