Its basically like this; 500 people buy a ticket to go to New York, somebody hijacks the plane heading to new york (nobody knows its been hijacked, its in mid air) and as its approaching new york, it changes course and crashes into buildings.
1) This had never happened before. To order a fighter pilot to shoot down a civilian jet liner with innocent WOMEN AND CHILDREN on board - well, you just can't do that off the cuff, especially in the chaos of that moment. The fighter pilots themselves may very well have been unable and unwillng to follow those dubious orders.
2) Defense/Offense - two sides of the same coin. The Pentagon was the most prominent symbol of American military might. That was the only way the terrorists could have hurt the military the most. If we (US Armed Forces) were to fight this War on Terrorism like we fought in WWII, it've been over by now.
3) Yes, the White House would have been a very juicy target indeed. Nothing would have struck more fear into Americans than seeing the very dwelling place of the Presidency turned into a smoking pile of rubble. The flight that crashed in PA was on a flight path toward the White House.
4) What second attack? The whole day was one on-going attack. We had no way of knowing how many planes were hijacked, thus the order to ground ALL flights as quickly as possible. Those planes not responding were likely the hijacked ones, but this took hours to accomplish.
Well, one, because taking the planes down, or shooting them down would have killed everyone on board. Because it wasn't something they KNEW would happen. Yes, but the passengers aboard one of the planes took down the hijackers and flew into a field, killing all, but Saving the white house. They didn't happen too far apart. So we couldn't evacuate everyone in the second building.
Get the book "102 Minutes", by Jim Dwyer and Keven Flynn
In school I have been learning about September 11, 2001, and I have done farther research upon my behalf, but I am wondering why:
1. The US was not ready to take down the planes.
2. The Pentagon was struck even though it is in the center of DEFENSE.
3. Do you think the White House would have been struck?
4. After the 1st attack that we were unprepared for the 2nd.
