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| The Best Anti-Terror Force: Us -- Flight 93’s Networked Heroes |
| 2004-06-25 |
| By J.B. Schramm, Washington Post. LRR. EFL. Link via Instapundit. How the "93rd Volunteer Infantry" succeeded on 9/11. A first review of the Sept. 11 commission’s report indicates that the system failed, but that is wrong. While the U.S. air defense system did fail to halt the attacks, our improvised, high-tech citizen defense "system" was extraordinarily successful. Confronted by a cruel and diabolical surprise that day, those with formal responsibility for protecting our country from air attack could not defend us. . . . What is surprising is that an alternative defense system, one with no formal authority or security funding, did succeed, and probably saved our seat of government. The downing of United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania was a heroic feat executed by the plane’s passengers. But it was more: the culmination of a strikingly efficient chain of responses by networked Americans. Requiring less time than it took the White House to gather intelligence and issue an attack order (which was in fact not acted on), American citizens gathered information from national media and relayed that information to citizens aboard the flight, who organized themselves and effectively carried out a counterattack against the terrorists, foiling their plans. Armed with television and cell phones, quick-thinking, courageous citizens who were fed information by loved ones probably saved the White House or Congress from devastation. The foremost strategic question we need to ask ourselves is not, "How did the government/CIA/FAA fail us?" Rather, we should ask: "How did the networked citizens on the ground and in the sky save us?" First, we Americans need to see ourselves as our brave fellow citizens on Flight 93 saw themselves, as front-line combatants in this struggle. There is no gated community safe from the threat, and there are no professional, volunteer armed forces that can, alone, fight this enemy. Not only should we aspire to match the great homeland sacrifices of citizens in World War II, we must see ourselves, and prepare ourselves, as the front line in this struggle. From a military perspective, our only effective weapon against the terrorists on Sept. 11 was a connected, smart-thinking citizenry. Educating and equipping critical-thinking, network-savvy citizens will be key to winning this war of infiltration and surprise. . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #1 93rd Conscripted Airborne, Forlorn Hope Battalion |
| Posted by: gromky 2004-06-26 12:00:01 AM |