[Grovenet] The Fog of War on 9/11...

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

We're coming up on the 6th anniversary since that awful September morning
when I, and millions of others, were transfixed by the scenes on our TV's
and the words from our radios. 

Norad, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, has recently released
transcripts and audio recordings  from the tapes of their activities of that
morning. Read them and hear the clips here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/features/general/060801fege01

Or 

http://tinyurl.com/rc2dn

Remember that these are just human beings, like any of us, responding as
humans to chaos, confusion and tragedy. Sometimes with
inappropriate-sounding humor and remarks, sometimes in disbelief. This is
real life, not a smoothly-scripted film play, and it shows how absurdly
simple the movies make humans seem <G>. These men and women are competent,
caring and effective - as effective as their resources permitted them to be.
Every one of them is a hero. 

Knowing that makes the audio clips absolutely chilling to me to listen to.
And I realize that they didn't know if this was the first hour of a huge
war, or the last moment before the nuclear bombs started falling. All they
slowly grew to understand was that it was not a couple of isolated
incidents. The chaos clearly demonstrates how the "fog of war" is not
isolated to a chaotic battlefield any longer. These folks were in the middle
of it in their bunkers and offices. And they were just about as powerless as
the G.I. on the battlefield who can't tell where the enemy is or even who
the enemy is. 

It also puts the promoters of the conspiracy theory about the Air Force
debating whether to shoot down one of the airlines. It's clear that the
first question about giving permission to fire on an airliner came only
*after* the attack had ended. 

It's all a spooky reminder of a morning that, truth be told, is not over
yet...

Ron D'Eau Claire