Re: [Fwd: [MobyGrape] Fwd: Final words]

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

In general this is an excellent post, and thank you for re-posting it here.  
I do have a couple of comments, though.  Would you mind passing them back to 
the originator of this message?


>10) There was a MAJOR failure in the US intelligence services in not
>being aware of, or properly raising the alarm about, what was planned by 
>the group responsible for what's happened...

This may be one item that's raising questions about the administration's 
possible use of the event to further an agenda.  I talked with some friends 
tonight and found that other people seem to have arrived at the "conspiracy 
theory" idea quite independently.  Apparently there were clear signs and 
even announcements that some event would transpire on September 11, which 
was to have been the sentencing date for one of Ben Laden's associates in a 
Washington court.  The fact that the plot went off as planned may be 
indication of an intelligence failure, but if so, then the ensuing 
investigation seems to have been unusually effective.  This discrepancy 
lends credence to the idea that the Bush administration refrained from 
acting on clear signs that something would happen in order to gain support 
for a "war against terrorism."


>15) Given the way in which the buildings collapsed so quickly and
>catastrophically, a long hard look needs to be taken at the way in which 
>very tall buildings are constructed, and whether we really need them to be 
>that high in the first place. In particular, ways need to be found to stop 
>a building from collapsing after being hit by a plane as big and heavy as a 
>fully-fuelled B747, or at least delaying the collapse long enough for a 
>proper and complete evacuation of the building and surrounding danger area 
>to take place.

The buildings did not collapse quickly.  I was totally amazed at the way 
they absorbed the initial impacts and ensuing explosions without visible 
degradation, and at the length of time they stood with that much burning jet 
fuel in their interiors.  It was nearly an hour before the steel at the 
mid-points melted/softened to the point that it was no longer able to 
support the upper floors.  When the upper floors collapsed, the increased 
force of the drop exceeded the safety margin of the floor attachments and 
the whole thing went.  The technology and knowledge exist to stop this, but 
it is prohibitively expensive.  No one will pay for it.

Several engineers have commented on the quality and performance of the 
design, and one of a specialist rescue team also commented that the 
architects should be proud.  Even after the collapse there were voids all in 
it where survivors might have found refuge, and some did.  If I'm not 
mistaken, one of the survivors fell 87 floors.


It appeared that there was plenty of time for a complete evacuation.   Some 
of the survivors reported that stairwell doors were locked, and that the PA 
system announced that all was secure and that they should go back to work.  
When the building collapsed, there were people crowded all around the base.  
This is human error, and can not be remedied by changes in building design.


keets

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