Anyone else notice that in al qeada's statement yesterday, their main threat was "Americans should know, the storm of the planes will not stop". Hmmm. I think that shows a weakness. They already cannot hijack in the same fashion that they did previously, and as time goes on, it will become nearly impossible to hijack a plane. I know that they will try to do other things, but threatening hijackings, I think they show their weakness. I am also pleased to see how small anti-US demonstrations are, and to hear about the OIC's response. All good signs.
Yes, hopefully they are weaker than anticipated. Something to consider...if they cannot pull off another assault of the scale of the 9-11 attack on the US, I'm afraid that any remaining terrorists could go the more conventional route and simply use guns to attack. This could be a more realistic threat than the various 'large scale' scenarios (biologic, chemical) that are anticipated.
i heard those statements by Bin Laden and thought the same thing! the only way they could hijack a plane now would be to kill everyone on board, disable everyone on board, and/or find a way into a locked cockpit. assuming they can't do any of the three (particularly the last one) I don't see how they could replicate what they did on 9.11. I'm wondering if it's a smokescreen...we seem to be hurrying to prevent one of these hijackings again and to beef up air security...seems like Bin Laden would play into this by doing something entirely different.
..and evade F-16s too. I thought about the smokescreen angle too, but I wouldn't think limiting the threat to planes would acheive the highest terror quotient, and that's his goal.
I think you are right. Nobody would let them Hijack a plane. It would have to be a plane they own, and it wouldn't take the FAA and Air Force very long to shoot it down. It would be next ti impossible. A truck bomb could occur, but not in DC. All trucks are being asked to take alternate routes away from the key buildings. A train is unlikely, unless of course they were taking out seven or eight trains on the same day. Any incident is likely to be isolated and with minimal impact here in the U.S. However, the rest of the world had better be ready.
