From Michael Moor of the TV show The Awful Truth, just after the Terror commenced Death, Downtown Dear friends, I was supposed to fly today on the 4:30 PM American Airlines flight from LAX to JFK. But tonight I find myself stuck in L.A. with an incredible range of emotions over what has happened on the island where I work and live in New York City. My wife and I spent the first hours of the day-after being awakened by phone calls from our parents at 6:40am PT-trying to contact our daughter at school in New York and our friend JoAnn who works near the World Trade Center. I called JoAnn at her office. As someone picked up, the first tower imploded, and the person answering the phone screamed and ran out, leaving me no clue as to whether or not she or JoAnn would live. It was a sick, horrible, frightening day. On December 27, 1985 I found myself caught in the middle of a terrorist incident at the Vienna airport-which left 30 people dead, both there and at the Rome airport. (The machine-gunning of passengers in each city was timed to occur at the same moment.) I do not feel like discussing that event tonight because it still brings up too much despair and confusion as to how and why I got to live. a fluke, a mistake, a few feet on the tarmac, and I am still here, there but for the grace of. Safe. Secure. I'm an American, living in America. I like my illusions. I walk through a metal detector, I put my carry-ons through an x-ray machine, and I know all will be well. Here's a short list of my experiences lately with airport security: * At the Newark Airport, the plane is late at boarding everyone. The counter can't find my seat. So I am told to just "go ahead and get on"- without a ticket! * At Detroit Metro Airport, I don't want to put the lunch I just bought at the deli through the x-ray machine so, as I pass through the metal detector, I hand the sack to the guard through the space between the detector and the x-ray machine. I tell him "It's just a sandwich." He believes me and doesn't bother to check. The sack has gone through neither security device. * At LaGuardia in New York, I check a piece of luggage, but decide to catch a later plane. The first plane leaves without me, but with my bag-no one knowing what is in it. * Back in Detroit, I take my time getting off the commuter plane. By the time I have come down its stairs, the bus that takes the passengers to the terminal has left-without me. I am alone on the tarmac, free to wander wherever I want. So I do. Eventually, I flag down a pick-up truck and an airplane mechanic gives me a ride the rest of the way to the terminal. * I have brought knives, razors; and once, my traveling companion brought a hammer and chisel. No one stopped us. Of course, I have gotten away with all of this because the airlines consider my safety SO important, they pay rent-a-cops $5.75 an hour to make sure the bad guys don't get on my plane. That is what my life is worth- less than the cost of an oil change. Too harsh, you say? Well, chew on this: a first-year pilot on American Eagle (the commuter arm of American Airlines) receives around $15,000 a year in annual pay. That's right -- $15,000 for the person who has your life in his hands. Until recently, Continental Express paid a little over $13,000 a year. There was one guy, an American Eagle pilot, who had four kids so he went down to the welfare office and applied for food stamps-and he was eligible! Someone on welfare is flying my plane? Is this for real? Yes, it is. So spare me the talk about all the precautions the airlines and the FAA is taking. They, like all businesses, are concerned about one thing-the bottom line and the profit margin. Four teams of 3-5 people were all able to penetrate airport security on the same morning at 3 different airports and pull off this heinous act? My only response is-that's all? Well, the pundits are in full diarrhea mode, gushing on about the "terrorist threat" and today's scariest dude on planet earth-Osama bin Laden. Hey, who knows, maybe he did it. But, something just doesn't add up. Am I being asked to believe that this guy who sleeps in a tent in a desert has been training pilots to fly our most modern, sophisticated jumbo jets with such pinpoint accuracy that they are able to hit these three targets without anyone wondering why these planes were so far off path? Or am I being asked to believe that there were four religious/political fanatics who JUST HAPPENED to be skilled airline pilots who JUST HAPPENED to want to kill themselves today? Maybe you can find one jumbo jet pilot willing to die for the cause-but FOUR? Ok, maybe you can-I don't know. What I do know is that all day long I have heard everything about this bin Laden guy except this one fact-WE created the monster known as Osama bin Laden! Where did he go to terrorist school? At the CIA! Don't take my word for it-I saw a piece on MSNBC last year that laid it all out. When the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, the CIA trained him and his buddies in how to commits acts of terrorism against the Soviet forces. It worked! The Soviets turned and ran. Bin Laden was grateful for what we taught him and thought it might be fun to use those same techniques against us. We abhor terrorism-unless we're the ones doing the terrorizing. We paid and trained and armed a group of terrorists in Nicaragua in the 1980s who killed over 30,000 civilians. That was OUR work. You and me. Thirty thousand murdered civilians and who the hell even remembers! We fund a lot of oppressive regimes that have killed a lot of innocent people, and we never let the human suffering THAT causes to interrupt our day one single bit. We have orphaned so many children, tens of thousands around the world, with our taxpayer-funded terrorism (in Chile, in Vietnam, in Gaza, in Salvador) that I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised when those orphans grow up and are a little whacked in the head from the horror we have helped cause. Yet, our recent domestic terrorism bombings have not been conducted by a guy from the desert but rather by our own citizens: a couple of ex-military guys who hated the federal government. From the first minutes of today's events, I never heard that possibility suggested. Why is that? Maybe it's because the A-rabs are much better foils. A key ingredient in getting Americans whipped into a frenzy against a new enemy is the all-important race card. It's much easier to get us to hate when the object of our hatred doesn't look like us. Congressmen and Senators spent the day calling for more money for the military; one Senator on CNN even said he didn't want to hear any more talk about more money for education or health care-we should have only one priority: our self-defense. Will we ever get to the point that we realize we will be more secure when the rest of the world isn't living in poverty so we can have nice running shoes? In just 8 months, Bush gets the whole world back to hating us again. He withdraws from the Kyoto agreement, walks us out of the Durban conference on racism, insists on restarting the arms race-you name it, and Baby Bush has blown it all. The Senators and Congressmen tonight broke out in a spontaneous version of "God Bless America." They're not a bad group of singers! Yes, God, please do bless us. Many families have been devastated tonight. This just is not right. They did not deserve to die. If someone did this to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston, New York, DC, and the planes' destination of California-these were places that voted AGAINST Bush! Why kill them? Why kill anyone? Such insanity. Let's mourn, let's grieve, and when it's appropriate let's examine our contribution to the unsafe world we live in. It doesn't have to be like this. Yours, Michael Moore
Michael Moore easily has one of the sharpest minds and most enjoyable personalities of our time. If anyone hasn't seen his show, read his articles, etc. you should definitely give them a chance.
If Mr. Moore has such a sharp mind, he should have used it for the duration of his comments. He did make some good observations, but how can he blame Bush for what happened? Give me a break. Bush has gotten the world back to hating us? Did I miss the point in time when the hatred of these people was assuaged under Clinton? Were they so distressed by Bush's first eight months in office (as is Mr. Moore) that they suddenly decided to take drastic measures to show their disapproval? It certainly takes some "sharp" mental maneuvering to get all of that out of the events of last week---lots of twisting and turning.
It's great how hind-sight works. If Mr. Moore knew this was such a serious problem why did he wait until this happened to tell his story. Everyone has their horror stories to tell about air-port security and it's flaws but now is not the time to say "I told you so" if you didn't try to change them in the 1st place. Either make be pro-active or sit down and shut up like the rest of us who did nothing before it happened.
You've got to be kidding me. People have been screaming airport security in this country was a farce and that the Pentagon was a direct threat to be hit by terrorists due to lack of security. They have every right to say "I told you so". I fly once a month and have repeatedly joked with gate agents about whether or not anyone reponds with "yes" to either of "The Two Questions". Most of them just laughed and said "you never know". I've always been amazed that I could carry a laptop onboard planes. How do they know it's a laptop or even functions as a laptop? At least they make me turn my cell phone on to see that it's a real cell phone (as if that really means anything). These are questions people have been asking for years, so I believe they have a right to say "I told you so" as harsh as it may seem right now.
It makes me pretty sick to even think about him blaming Bush. 5000 people dead and he wants to blame our own government masterminding this project to bring the world on our side and gain a few military bucks! First, he lists examples of poor airport security, then he is appauled that 4 jets can be hijacked at one and sent to their doom! Make up your mind!
DOD- If you knew it was a problem what did you do about it? We all knew it was a problem but for those of us (myself included) who didn't call our congressional representatives, never wrote letters to the airports or airlines, and more than anything never did anything about it except to think this is bad. I think we have no right to point fingers now. The folks who may have complained have every right to, but I just hate people like Mr. Moore that in the face of a tragedy comes out and points fingers. If he would have been writing columns dedicated to airport security, then I digress, but like most folks he is loking for someone to blame for him not being proactive. Again I say hind-sight is a marvelous thing which makes each and every person see the obvious.
that is "The Awful Truth" the fact that the CIA trained OBL is enough to make me sick... much less his terrorist financed heinous acts! rH
Michael Moore can be funny but mostly he is a whiny-ass. In which terrorism class did we teach Bin Laden to hijack these planes (which they probably don't even have in Afghanistan) and fly them into tall buildings (which they almost certainly don't have in Afghanistan)? Were these classes labs or lectures? Wasn't Bin Laden fighting a war when we trained him? I'm sure if this horror had been perpetrated by Swedish terrorists, it would have been okay by us because they "looked like us." Yeah, sure Michael! How about this one: "Or am I being asked to believe that there were four religious/political fanatics who JUST HAPPENED to be skilled airline pilots who JUST HAPPENED to want to kill themselves today?" Well, Michael, what other explanation suffices-- that these were coordinated accidents?
RichRocket wrote: "In which terrorism class did we teach Bin Laden to hijack these planes (which they probably don't even have in Afghanistan) and fly them into tall buildings (which they almost certainly don't have in Afghanistan)? Were these classes labs or lectures?" the OTHER sad thing is that OBL didn't train them HIMSELF, American/German Flight schools trained these pilots! I would assume that the classes were labs, lectures and in-flight training! I'm sure OBL's deep pockets paid for those classes! arghhhhhhhh! rH
Michaels Moore's entire career has been about exposing major corporations and the governments lies and deceivings. This is not something new. Keep in mind that he had a daughter unaccounted for at the time of that article. Anger is understandable. As the pain of this tragedy starts to pass you will indeed be seeing more and more questions about our governments past actions. Mike Moore is not alone. Bill Mahr also is quite angry with the government. I, too, wonder why it is that a plane a could go so far off course without any action being taken. I am also disturbed that our airport security is so lame knowing that many agencies or politicians have been trying to warn the government about this.
Geez, Michael Moore and Bill Mahr- the two biggest hypocritical bores on TV today. They both claim to be third party "independents", and that is a joke. If I never see those two fountains of negativity again, I will be a happier person.
You make the problem known. I stated the obvious at the check-in counter regarding the laptop and "The Two Questions". But that's just little ol' me. When the "big people" publish findings and papers to the government, people that have FAR more knowledge about this than I do and they are ignored, maybe it does take a tragedy to wake them up. What was I supposed to do? Stand at the gates and ask everybody to open their bags so I could check them? I don't think most of the people saying "I told you so" are saying it simply to say "I told you so, so there". I think they're saying it to imply "We told you before, you didn't do anything of consequence. Now can we please do something about it so we can at least reduce the risk of something like this happening again?". The latter explanation, if true, is why I don't mind people saying "I told you so".
The same reason people protest for things and it doesn't happen, or why people tell the government that cutting down rain forest are bad, or why there should be more police on the street or training at airports and there aren't. Unless it effects the bottomline companies and the government don't listen. Everybody knew this was a problem, networks have done investigation on this, but nothing was done until a terrorist attack happened.
SpaceCity: I believe that action was taken, BUT not from local Andrews (?) Air Force base. Fighterswere launched from some base south by about 150 miles (I think) and they arrived on the scene just a few minutes after the crashes. As I understand it, Bush had given the order to shoot the planes down but our designed response was inadequate-- from too far away and thus not enough time to intercept.
To those that think Moore's and Mahr's concerns are not real: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/19/inv.shelby.criticism/ This is from a Republican Senator. Rich, I heard about that. At what point did this order happen, I wonder. That first plane was way off course for some time. Someone should have been concerned immediately. The second plane hit 15 minutes later. The 3rd plane hit 30 minutes after that. Disbelief? Denial? Who knows.
