U.S. Reviews Air Defenses to Thwart Terror From Skies

I’m not sure how one can ever place a price tag on preventing another 9/11…or worse.

The commander of military forces protecting North America has ordered a review of the costly air defenses intended to prevent another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack, an assessment aimed at determining whether the commitment of jet fighters, other aircraft and crews remains justified.

Senior officers involved in the effort say the assessment is to gauge the likelihood that terrorists may succeed in hijacking an airliner or flying their own smaller craft into the United States or Canada. The study is focused on circumstances in which the attack would be aimed not at a public building or landmark but instead at a power plant or a critical link in the nation’s financial network, like a major electrical grid or a computer network hub.

The review, to be completed next spring, is expected to be the military’s most thorough reassessment of the threat of a terrorism attack by air since Al Qaeda’s strikes on Sept. 11, 2001, transformed a Defense Department focused on fighting other militaries and led to the Bush administration’s “global war on terror.”

The assessment is partly a reflection of how a military straining to fight two wars is questioning whether it makes sense to keep in place the costly system of protections established after those attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Though the last of the air patrols above American cities were discontinued in 2007, the military keeps dozens of warplanes and hundreds of air crew members on alert to respond to potential threats.

“The fighter force is extremely expensive, so you always have to ask yourself the question ‘How much is enough?’ ” said Maj. Gen. Pierre J. Forgues of Canada, director of operations for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, which carries out the air defense mission within the United States military’s Northern Command

via Read Full Article.

Five Sept. 11 Suspects to Face Trial in New York

Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, an Obama administration official said Friday.

Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce the decision later in the morning.

President Obama, speaking in Tokyo, said he will insist that Mohammed be subject to “the most exacting demands of justice” and called the move both a prosecutorial and a national security decision.

“I’m absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheik Mohammad will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. The American people insist on it. My administration will insist on it,” he said.

via Read Full Article.

9/11 Phone Calls Released To the Public

Desperate to contact their loved ones, these are the telephone calls of the victims of 9/11. These calls have been released with the consent of their relatives and this is the first time many of them have been made available to the public.

Link:

Hat Tip Atlas

This is Kevin Cosgrove. He was the Vice President of Aon Corporation and was 46 years old. He was on the 105th floor of the South Tower, when he saw the attacks of the North Tower. He made a phone call to his wife, telling her that he was okay and that he was on his way down. Right after he got off the phone, the South Tower was attacked.

This tape goes from when the 911 phone call was first made to the collapse of the South Tower and his final heartwrenching cry of “OH, GOD! O-!” as the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

WARNING - This is very disturbing.

9/11 Video – Remembering What We Saw

You need to watch this…This home video of the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center was filmed from a 36th floor apartment very close to the North Tower. It’s a view of 911 that you may not have seen and one that you should.

The events of 9/11 are familiar to everyone. Perhaps so much so that over time many have become desensitized to the actual events of that day. To me, what is absolutely chilling, is how the video captures the personal experience of the couple shooting the video. It is their comments, telephone calls, shock and anguish that brings back a flood of emotions from that day.

Take a few moments to watch, remember and never forget… (Due To the number of viewers page may need to be refreshed to load)

World Wildlife Fund – WWF Condemns ‘Offensive’ Ad With It’s Logo

The World Wildlife Fund is speaking out after bloggers and twitterers condemned the environmental group over a tasteless and unapproved ad exploiting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

The online ad shows a swarm of airplanes about to attack New York with a caption reading: “The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.”

The ad bears the WWF’s trademark panda logo.

It began drawing attention Tuesday when it won a best of 2009 award from The One Club, a non-profit group that promotes excellence in advertising, says the New York Daily News.

But the WWF says the image was created on specifications by a Brazilian ad agency and was rejected.

“WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad, and did not authorize its production or publication,” the group said in a news release issued late Tuesday.

“It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from websites where it is being currently featured.”

Officials with The One Club did not return the paper’s phone calls.

Source

Fox News

From the LA Times there is more.

Mullen – 9/11 Plotters Still Alive And Planning More Attacks

Those who plotted the deadly attacks on World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, are still alive and planning to carry out more terror strikes, a top US military general has said. “The people behind that deadly day are still at it. They live and plan and train in safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” Navy admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said.

“They would like nothing better than to see either country or both fall prey to the grip of an extremist ideology. To the degree we let them succeed, we let ourselves become vulnerable,” Mullen said in his address to the 91st annual American Legion Convention, Louisville, Kentucky.

“My mission, the one currently given to me by the President, is to prevent that from happening. And that’s what we’re going to do,” Mullen said.

While Pakistanis are themselves waging their war against extremists, Mullen said, in Afghanistan, the war being waged to defeat al-Qaida and its extremist allies is led by an international security force with Afghans.

via 9/11 plotters still alive and planning more attacks: Mullen – US – World – NEWS – The Times of India.

911 Video – Remembering What We Saw

This home video of the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center was filmed from a 36th floor apartment very close to the North Tower. It’s a view of 911 that you may not have seen and one that you should.
Read more

NYC Hearing On Nuclear Terror Threat

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, testifying a few blocks from where terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001, warned Wednesday that the city needs help as the “last line of defense” against a potentially far more devastating attack.

Kelly, Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton and FBI Deputy Director John Pistole were among several witnesses called by a congressional committee studying the threat posed by nuclear, chemical and biological attacks. Read more