One of the nagging talking points the Bush administration has harped on since September 11th is the ridiculous contention that “no one could have imagined” that someone would hijack a plane and fly it into a building. Of course, there are a couple ways to look at this issue: first, if that’s true that no one imagined it, then we have a spectacular failing in intelligence and need more imaginative people in government who can cover all the bases that lowly terrorists seem to be able to cover.
Second, this argument is ridiculous because we know that it was a scenario the intelligence community had imagined — the CIA even had it in a briefing memo before the event.
And now, News Hounds points out that even the right-wing Fox network had predicted it:
On March 4, 2001 – six months before 9/11 – FOX Channel aired the pilot program of a short-lived show called The Lone Gunmen”, a spin-off of “The X-Files”.
The plot centered around an attempt by the heroes – The Lone Gunmen – to prevent a hijacked commercial airliner from being flown into the World Trade Center.
So, let’s see.
None of the personnel in the various agencies charged with protecting us could foresee that a plane could be turned into a bomb, but a TV script writer could?
How ironic!
During World War II, Allied commanders used to recreate Nazi facilities so they could surround themselves with the “feel” of the enemy and learn to “think like they think.” Perhaps the current government should think a little more. Our enemies don’t think the way we do.
