At the Speed of War

Be sure to take a few moments to read the article "Failsafe" by Elaine Scarry.  It's a very well written and well-thought-out evaluation of our National defense system in light of what did and didn't work on 9/11. 

The article focuses particularly on how so much of our national defense system is based on the idea that decisions will have to be made and actions taken in a very short period of time - "a matter of minutes" as the saying goes.  Yet even with as much warning as was available about the potential for hijacked planes and the knowledge that if a plane was hijacked that day there was a very good possiblity that it would be crashed into a building, none of our high-tech, super-fast planes were of any use.  Our military was unable to defend us that day, in spite of decades planning for the President to be able to make quick decisions and have them carried out immediately.

What did work was a group of ordinary citizens who made use of whatever resources they had available, including their own personal courage, and were able to prevent yet another tragedy that day.

Scarry provides an interesting breakdown of how much notice the Pentagon had in regards to the plane that plowed into it and what actions (or lack thereof) were taken.  She then compares that to a breakdown of how the passengers of Flight 93 made use of their time and the actions they took.

She also takes the time to comment on the excuses that some have given as to why the government had a difficult time getting anything done that day - and why the situation would be largely the same if we were looking at missles instead of airplanes.

So take some time to read it - agree with it or not, I'm sure it'll get your mental wheels working.