Perspective: long term questions

[russotto]

Originally posted by tw
Should the World Trade Center be rebuilt? Before answering, understand why a fire brought down the 1st two towers so quickly. Both shifts of the legenday NYFD Resuce 1 were all lost without understanding the dangers. Why? Should the WTC be rebuilt? Will we be pragmatic, emotional, or just defiant? If your think I even implied an answer, then you must re-examine your own biases.

Translation: tw realizes he implied an answer, and so attempt to blame the reader for inferring one.

On StarTrek, (Wrath of Khan), a starship had security encryption AND could be flown from another ship. Commerical airliners still don't even require keyed ignitions; let alone operator security codes. Previous security plans assumed hijackers were low intelligent extremists who could not operate complex controls, or who wanted to live. Assumptions made in error twice over. What is in the future for all computerized airliners that can fly and even land themselves without a human pilot?

Star Trek = fiction.

This = reality.

And of course building in a remote-control mechanism opens as many opportunities for terrorism as it closes.

Bottom, Supreme Court, and White House. Maybe politicans will drive out to Dulles instead of to personal parking spaces in National? Heaven forbid that politicans should inconvenience themselves. Close National Airport now. Republican extremists may be too attached to the airport's name to be so pragmatic.

Closing National will make next to zero difference. They hit the Pentagon from Dulles. They hit the WTC from BOSTON. These are jets. They fly at more than 500 miles per hour. That's a mile every 8 seconds.