John;

I must agree with you!

You could say that Americans are naïve – even today to a great extend. Yes we have extremists such as Right Wingers, Red Necks and Survivalists. But the majority of citizens of this nation are easy going and not conditioned for war 24/7.

Imagine being a policeman in any country of the world. Your attitude towards humanity must be different from the average person in order to survive. If you are nice the chances are you will not last long.

If a military person lowers his or her guard for even an instant you may no longer exist. The expression, “shoot first and ask questions later”, was drilled into our heads. I just found an Air Force Newspaper from the time I was in Air Defense Command. It stated and correctly so, “We have been on constant alert for the ten years we have existed”! Can you imagine the cost to the people involved?

Part of the mission of ADC was to get fighters in the air within 60 seconds from the time of notification. We were always on some alert status. We had an average of 2000 interceptions a day of unknowns flying over the United States (1964-65). Imagine our “new Air Force”! It took them over 17 minutes to get off the ground when they had a scramble over Washington D.C. Has our military really improved?

What happens to people when they are on or in a constant state of readiness and alert? Physical, mental and emotional issues will occur. The stress is unbelievable. If you dwell on it, it will eat you alive.

Are we as a nation and people better prepared today then on 9-10? I think not, except for a few heads of federal departments patting each other on the back or willing to take the blame for whatever.

In Air Force Security Service I learned, "There is no such thing as security. It exists to some degree and can be broken"!

Tom


>I see that now there is a report saying that various parties screwed up and didn't do more to prevent 9-11.
>
>We all need to look forward, what matters now is whether another 9-11-style incident is possible. I have complete confidence in the US authorities, also in the common sense of passengers, many of whom would attempt to subdue hijackers despite the personal risk because we know what to expect.
>
>America was attacked by people who "used" the freedoms and options you offer, relying on your assumption of community goodwill and "co-operation in the interests of all" to hurt you. Could you have "predicted" in advance and prevented 9-11? Not without changing who you are. IMHO, anyway.