First, several of you asked us to link the list of Duke survivors. It's on the page - just look down
Thursday night, it looks like they tried to do it again: authorities in New
York said that some guys tried to board airplans and also "said they had
multiple fake IDs, knives, and flight certificates from Flight Safety
International in Vero Beach, Fla," according to ABCNews.com
So with that
in mind, it makes the decisions to cancel weekend sporting events look pretty
smart. Not to minimize the WTC massacre, but what would have happened if
someone crashed a jet into Giant Stadium instead? The only good thing
about that is that the fireball was pretty high up, and some people got to flee before it came down. If a plane came into an open stadium, it could easily kill
50,000.
It also underscores some really harsh realities. First, it
wasn't a one-time deal. They're ready to do it again. And keep in mind this is a
primitive bomb. All they do is steer a jet loaded with fuel at a big
target. Not very sophisticated. If they aimed it at say Yankee
Stadium or Michigan's football stadium, the fireball would spread out and
on the ground, too.
Very bad.
More importantly though is the idea that
they would try again so soon. They're not going away, no matter how much
we want them to. We're going to have to deal with this, and the search for
proof goes on, with
a black box showing up.
Apparently, the
military is pretty much ready to go. Everyone knows the Afghanis are a
very tough nut to crack, but Special Forces could do some damage. And
while assaulting the Pentagon is arguably good symbolically, if you hate what it
stands for, it's also a heck of a big hornet's nest to stir up, and clearly,
it's stirred up. The people in New York are pissed, but the people in D.C.
have planes and bombs and missiles.
Apparently, a lot of people are ready for them to do it, too: support
for a war, even a nasty one, is high. A lot of them seem
to be arming themselves, which seems a bit extreme. But NATO
is clearing its throat, and that's significant.
The Taliban has noticed, and are trying to figure out some way out of the
mess Bin Laden has most likely put them in. They have broached the
possibility of turning
him over to an Islamic court, but that will never go over in
Washington. Then again, they
insist he's innocent.
Brazil is looking for any of his money and promises to freeze it, which is a
good way to pursue him.
Most of you have probably heard the very moving British gesture: they played
the Star Spangled Banner at the Changing Of The Guard at Buckingham Palace. That
was very hard to hear without tearing up.
The outlines of the plans, which are ambitious, are coming into focus:
Israel may get turned loose on Iraq, among other targets. Pakistan is getting
muscled, and India has already agreed to help.
The French ambassador to Israel has kicked up a furor, by saying that
terrorism in Israel is
not the same as what happened here.
Some nice comments from the Europeans:
"These horrendous acts are an attack not only on the United States but
against humanity itself, and the values and freedoms we all share," said
Belgian Foreign Ministry Louis Michel, whose country holds the EU presidency.
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said, "Today, we are all
Americans."
European Commission President Romano Prodi recalled, "In the darkest
hours of European history, America stood close by us," he said.
"Today we stand close by America.
"This was an attack on freedom and democracy and civilisation and
humanity," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.
And some quotes from around the world:
"Bullseye," - two Egyptian taxi drivers, watching
footage of the destruction of the WTC.
"I am extremely worried that what has happened...will
result in a more closed world, that it will be more difficult for us to meet
across borders, that we will see more of controls and regulations - because of
the desire to protect ourselves." - Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson.
"I hope President Bush can handle this with restraint and
wisdom. That he wants to seek revenge is understandable, but retaliation should
be correct and direct and cannot lead to the suffering of other innocent
people." - Lin Xinshu (58) a doctor of Chinese herbal medicine from Fuzhou
City, China
ÂNice work. The Americans have forgotten that God exists.
They have us by the throat and now they find themselves in a science fiction
film scenario, but this time Rambo's not there to save the White House." -
Abdel Karim, who drives a car for an Asian embassy in Egypt.
"Americans are too arrogant, they think they are the
global police. So this is what they get." - Zhang Lili, Beijing housewife.
"We saw the tower crash down. I only wish (US President)
George Bush and his dear little baby (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon had
been buried in there too. - Egyptian student Amira Ryad.
"Our message to those who perpetrated these unspeakable
crimes is...clear: you will not get away with it," - Nato Secretary-General
George Robertson.
"Imagine you're in a plane flying from Paris to New York.
Half-way across you find out the World Trade Centre no longer exists." -
Jeremy Scott (28) British fashion designer, who was on a plane which was turned
around over the Atlantic and returned to Charles-de-Gaulle.
"I feel that my heart is breaking when I see it on the
television. To think of all those parents without children, and children without
parents." - Gong Liming, a 47-year-old cleaner in Shanghai.
"These events...lead us to fear that they could be the
omens of a new world conflict." - President Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory
Coast.
"I'm totally shocked, I don't know what to think. America
is going to have to change if they want to stop this thing from happening again.
Too many people around the world hate them and this shows how far they will go
to commit terrorist attacks." Han, Beijing housewife.
Well, maybe we're not crazy about you, either. Chances
are your impressions won't improve much when this is over.