Twenty years on, 9/11 still a mystery

 

    By Reginald Johnson

 Like so many Americans, my wife and I were glued to our TV today, watching several hours of coverage of the 20^th anniversary observances of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, which caused the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.

  It was so moving to hear the readings by the survivors of workers who died at the World Trade Center in New York and the recollections about the heroic firefighters who ran into the twin towers as they were engulfed in flames to rescue people. It was also powerful to be reminded of the bravery of the passengers on Flight 93 who stopped the terrorists who were flying that plane before it could reach the Capitol, and died as the plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

  But as I saw the footage replayed of the planes crashing into the trade center and saw huge fireballs explode around the towers --- forcing people to choose between being burned alive or jumping to their death --- my old feelings of anger about this event resurfaced.

   How on earth did this all happen? Why weren’t we better prepared?

        

The World Trade Center on fire on Sept. 11, 2001

 (Photo by Wikimedia Commons).

 

How did four planes get taken over by terrorists on the same morning, with three of them reaching their destinations (New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.), without them being stopped or shot down by our air defenses? The US has the greatest military in the world and the greatest Air Force in the world. Just how did our air defenses fail so miserably?

  Why didn’t the administration of Pres. George W. Bush have the nation better prepared for a terrorist attack? There were ample warnings in 2001 that something was imminent. In the spring, a report had come out by a bi-partisan committee headed in part by former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart that said it wasn’t a question of if there was going to be an attack on the United States, but only when.  In early August, the CIA briefed President Bush with a report that said the system was “blinking red” and a terrorist attack was imminent. Why didn’t Bush and his administration have the United States military go on high alert for a possible attack and set in motion strict security measures for airports and other key locations?

  I’ve faulted the CIA for a number of things over the years, but on this one, they got it right.

  I remember National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice calling for an emergency meeting on September 10^th to discuss possible terrorist threats. September 10th ??

  Also, how was it that three buildings at the World Trade Center collapsed so easily?  Two of the buildings were hit by planes and erupted into fire. But these buildings were monster structures composed of massive amounts of concrete and steel, 110 stories high, and it is still mystifying to me that a strike by an airplane and resulting fire would be enough to bring those structures down. There were reports by many eyewitnesses that they heard explosions in the buildings after the planes hit. Were there bombs planted in the towers to trigger an implosion? That possibility was never investigated.

     Lending credence to that theory is that Building Seven, which was not struck by a plane, collapsed later in the day. A few fires had started in the building as a result of sparks and flaming debris flying from the towers, but this hardly seems enough to bring down a huge steel and concrete building.

  If bombs were planted, it means there were accessories to the attack. People on the ground assisting the suicide bombers. Again, not investigated.

  Also puzzling about the 9/11 attacks is the performance of the FBI. The bureau had received reports from its field agents during the summer of 2001 that some of the people who later piloted the terror planes or were associated with those people, were training at flight schools in Arizona and Minnesota and acting in a very bizarre manner. Warnings were sent to higher-ups that these people should be watched closely. But apparently this was not done. This is gross incompetence.

  So there are still so many questions about Sept. 11 and it’s deeply troubling that they have never been answered.

  My wife, who is from Europe, said it best.

 “How could this have happened to the United States?” she asked.

Indeed.

We need to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on 9/11.