More News And Links On Yesterday's Terrorist Attack

Everyone out there who set up content mirrors helped the spread of information survive as well as it did. After the tremendous crush yesterday, conventional news sources seem to have largely recovered. However, people are still cushioning the network burden with their own mirrors and original reporting. We'll be putting up occasional updates as necessary, but for now hit that link below and you can read a ton of stories on all aspects of the story.

Ian Peon writes: "SF Gate has a short article on how the Internet "proved its mettle as a communications facilitator in a time of crisis." Kudos to all those who kept things running!"

An anonymous reader writes: "The who, what, and how are detailed in this Boston Herald story. The weapons were smuggled in the razor cases. And in order to get to the cockpit, they terrorized the stewardesses, killing a few in order to lure the pilot out. Once the pilot was out, they took control of the plane. They have identified a car driven by 5 arabs had flying instruction in arabic. The men have been traced back to different arab countries."

This WorldTribune.com story claims that Israeli intelligence reports favor the idea that the attacks may have had the backing of Saddam Hussein's Bagdhad government. According to a submission from UberOogie ,Osama bin Ladin denies involvement in the attacks. The claims, speculation and disclaimers will no doubt continue.

Connord D writes: "View the Survivor's Register Please, PLEASE go to the survivor registers, register that your looking for your family, tell your friends, pass the word around and identify those that have survived and those that are missing. Help worried families either confirm the fates of their loved ones so that they can mourn, or help them find those people that are missing." And Brian Mears, LAN Systems Operations Manager for Computer Sciences Corporation, writes: "I have created a forum on my website to allow families and friends of survivors to post messages and communicate with each other concerning this most tragic period." Here's the link: http://www.ntadmin.net/forum/.

It would be a godsend if the various survivor registries would pool their data, or if someone sets up a google-like search engine to reach all of them at once.

oo7 writes: "CNN has a stream of the first plane crash. If you'd like to download it you can from the videos section of this site; it has news updated as fast as I can and streams as fast as I can capture. Please forward any unknown news and links that you may have."

pKa writes: "The last image from WTCs 77th floor webcam is available on a few sites around the net. The original WCTA.org cam-site is dead, but available in Googles cache, where you can see the dark screen (camera already dead, most likely) at 09:52:52, 09/11/01 - just before the buildings crashed. Article (in norwegian) with screenshots available here" The stream of concern that yesterday's events will lead to an illiberal attitude toward privacy is growing into a torrent: vena writes: "CNN reported on television broadcast earlier today that the NSA was now going through volumes of recorded cellular calls for calls made by passengers on the planes. Clear admission."

GothChip writes: "Ananova are reporting that just hours after the terrorist attack on New York, the FBI started approaching ISPs asking for help in installing Carnivore."

mkelley writes: "This is only the beginning folks...looks like the internet is going to be blamed for this...Wired has a story that is sure to cause panic. This is going to be the goverment's way to push wiretapping into your email and web surfing. In this time of crisis, people in high places are going to use this to get their agenda through. "Blame the Internet" is going to be the rallying cry for everything ..." If you're interested in the details of the planes the terrorists chose, a Semi-Anonymous Coward writes: "American Airlines flight 77 confirmed down, crashed into the Pentagon, Washington DC. Flight 77 (Dulles to Los Angeles) is scheduled as a Boeing 757-200:

Boeing 757-200 data and history:

American Airlines Boeing 757-200 photos:

• American Airlines flight 11 confirmed down, crashed into World Trade Center New York. Flight 11 (Boston to Los Angeles) is scheduled as a Boeing 767-200:
• Boeing 767-200 data and history
• American Airlines Boeing 767-200 photos

United Airlines flight 175 confirmed down, crashed into World Trade Center New York. Flight 175 (Boston to Los Angeles) is scheduled as a Boeing 767-200:

• United Airlines Boeing 767-200 photos

United Airlines flight 93 confirmed down near Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Flight 93 (Newark to San Francisco) is scheduled as a Boeing 757-200:

• United Airlines Boeing 757-200 photos: United Airlines Boeing 757-200 photos"

WallStreetItalia webcam

I have some pictures [russnelson.com] I grabbed from the WallStreetItalia.com webcam.
-russ

Lack Of Media Content On Real News Sites

So, I have 142 average to high-res images on a page I threw together, as well as several videos. The site, http://www.students.bucknell.edu/ekrout/images/911 _In_America/images/gallery/index.html [bucknell.edu], should be able to take high-abuse in terms of bandwidth, etc. It's a resource, so feel free to use it. Thanks.

Re:Get it right, W

I'm not sure how to take this comment. Bush hasn't done anything wrong yet. I don't really understand why anyone would be giving him a hard time. I happened to fully agree with his current game plan. Also, the White House is controlling everything that's going to the media right now. I think they're doing a great job so far. They have yet to officially blame anyone yet, and the FBI, ATF, MassPort, US Marshall Service, US Attorney General, and about every other know law enforcement agency has jumped on board to try and find out who exactly is to blame. I'm sure the majority of American's are convinced that it was a certian Saudi who's haggin out in Afganistan, but until they know for sure the White House hasn't made a statement about it.

Donate money to the red cross

Link available on amazons frontpage [amazon.com]. So far, $481,726 has been collected. Please help, most of us can spare a dollar...

Re:Donate money to the red cross

As I pointed out on Slashnet yesterday, PayPal has a similar service if you have a paypal account:

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/rel ief-outside [paypal.com]

Suspects

MSNBC (The TC channel) was saying that two suspects had apparantly attended flight school in Florida last summer. It didn't have any more information on WHO the suspects were however. Here [msnbc.com] is a related story there.

Iraq theory creditable

Media and others are jumping on the Osama Bin Laden theory a bit too eagerly for my comfort. I've had my eye on Iraq since yesterday night. People keep saying it wouldn't be that hard to do this - this is bull. While the armchair commandos and flight-simulator captains blow smoke about how anyone could do this, veteran pilots and intelligence and terrorism experts keep telling us it was a highly sophisticated and intricately planned attack. Noone can deny it is leaps and bounds above what Bin-Laden's organization has accomplished thus far.

Note Iraq's basically unique reaction at http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/12/mideast .reaction/ and judge for yourself. I can't help thinking about unfinished business, and the sins of the father... But please remember: NOONE except those responsible know for sure who the culprits are. Rash action will rightfully incite more hatred from people not responsible for the action. If we act cooly, rationally, carefully but implacably it will be better for everyone.

Re:Iraq theory creditable

Anybody who's been in the military can figure out how to time something like this. "Move at 0x00 hours". OK, synchronize your watches and there you go.

The idea of dropping 4 planes at once and deciding that it was feasible is the hard part. Stuff like this has been tried before, but failed, because it wasn't planned well enough.

I don't care if I am a 'flight-simulator captain' for saying this, but the hardest part of flying a plane is doing so safely. There's a reason why it was possible during WWII to give pilots 6 weeks of flight training then put them up against the enemy - it just isn't THAT HARD to fly an airplane (yes, even modern jets - prop planes are often more complex to keep up) once you learn the concepts behind it. If you're a lunatic that wants to crash into the WTC, then you don't have to follow FAA regs, get the plan safely on a runway, or follow military ROE/procedure. You don't have to do anything but point it at the building and make sure it hits it. The worst part of flight training is learning all the regulations. Pilots in the WWI (that's ONE, not two) would learn enough flight dynamics to take off, fly, and land safely within a WEEK.

Ever been in an auto accident? Tell me how hard that was compared to getting to/from work safely.

Re:Iraq theory creditable

I somewhat agree. Training to fly the plane is a lot easier if you don't care about safety regulations and don't care about learning to land or take off. But it's not that easy.

Big planes have *lots* of momentum. Any change in altitude or direction has to be planned long in advance. Turns also have to be smooth. The roll-rate of a jumbo-jet isn't all that great.

The one part of this that really indicates training to me is the navigation. The planes that hit the World Trade Center took off from Boston headed for California. Sometime in the flight they successfully found the right bearing to NYC, then found the world trade centre buildings in NYC. Even though they're a prominent landmark in Manhattan, finding Manhattan itself would require some real navigation skills.

Re:Iraq theory creditable

While the armchair commandos and flight-simulator captains blow smoke about how anyone could do this, veteran pilots and intelligence and terrorism experts keep telling us it was a highly sophisticated and intricately planned attack. Think about this carefully. While there had to have been a good deal of planing involved in the attack, especially to coordinate several planes at once, it is very easy for this to happen. All it requires is that people get over the mindset that criminals require guns and explosives to do bad things. Appart from coordination, which could have been setup months ago outside the US before the terrorists even got here, and a little bit of pilot training, this attack did not require extraordinary resources. Only extraordinary individuals willing to sacrifice their lives. Getting plastic or ceramic blades past security would be a piece of cake. Often times I myself travel with two steel blades. One on the Swiss army knife I carry on my keychain, which security sees as I hand it to them with my keys, and a Leatherman I keep in my briefcase which is exrayed. I have never once been stopped or questioned about them, even on international flights. Any blade made of non-metallic substances would not even have to be disclosed at the security points. You just walk right through with it. As to flying the planes, another Slashdotter (sorry don't remember who) pointed out that take off and landing constitue 99% of the difficulty in flying a jet. While that might be exagerating a little, it's only a little. Once that plane is in the air it is very easy to fly. Point the nose where you want to go essentially. Am I 'arm chair quarterbacking?' Sure. But I've also had the fortune to fly in one of Uniteds simulators at their training facility in Denver a number of years ago. They let me sit in the pilots seat, take off, fly, and land a simulated 737. At that point I had never even flown a simulator on a PC, let alone a big, honkin' full motion simulator. The only time I sweat was durring landing. Everything else was a breeze. You have to consider that the terrorists had no intention of landing, or even surviving. All they had to do was line up with the buildings, that's it. Ask some real pilots how hard it is to fly if you don't have to take off or land. It's even easier if you don't plan to survive. Everyone needs to keep in mind that everything you see and hear about this disaster is going to be tainted with an agenda of some kind. The media will play it up, they already have. They reported that the attack in Kabul may have been American before they had any kind of proof for or against. The Polititians are going to play it up for their own agenda's, namely not getting blamed for allowing this to happen. What we as citizens of the US need to do is keep our heads on straight, and don't let this be used as an excuse to relieve us of any more liberties. Was this really a sophisticated attack? No. It was unsophisticated to the degree that our reliance on spy technology failed to see it comming. If 12 men willing to give their lives, sit down in a house, plan an attack and then go their seperate ways till the designated time, there is very little you can do about it unless one of them talks and you happen to overhear it. Am I saying that this was the result of 12 angry men with no ties to any organization? No. Although it's possible, it's not probable. The attack was simply well planned, brutal, and effective. There will never be peace as long as people hate each other enough to kill.

We need more Americans like Jeremy Glick

who sacrified himself [adequacy.org] to save others, on United Flight 93.

Re:Cowards

I don't know. Are civilians in, say, Afghanistan as innocent as the ones in New York? I don't think they are.

Civilians are civilians, and it does not matter where they live.

If you advocate or permit attacks against non-military targets, then there is very little difference between you and the terrorists.

Re:Cowards

I'd be surprised if anyone is advocating rolling over and playing dead.

Rather, I suspect you're misinterpreting what is being said: be coldly rational and thorough. Identify the guilty and destroy them and, if at all possible, them alone.

This advice is given based on past hysteria:

- The panic after Pearl Harbour resulted in tens of thousands of innocent American and Canadian citizens being imprisoned in internment camps, and the loss of all their possessions. These weren't Japs that were mistreated: they were second- and third-generation Americans.

- The panic after the JFK assasination resulted in immediate finger-pointing against Cuba and Russia. It was a truly nasty time to have Cuban skin in the US.

- The panic after the Oklahoma bombing resulted in many American citizens being mistreated: there was plenty of bullying, name-calling, and threats. All because these citizens had Arab looks and skin.

The public's reaction to the WTC terrorist attack can -- and probably will -- turn just as ugly as before: there are people clamouring to kick out American citizens based on their religion ("Muslims out") and people calling for the complete destruction of the mid-East, even though the mid-East isn't a homogenous society and even though most of the citizens over there aren't guilty.

It's time for Sheriff Uncle Sam to get some fucking serious about destroying the terrorist groups and those who support them

*AND*

to get serious about figuring out why the USA is so thoroughly hated and then figuring out how to gain, if not friendly terms, neutral terms with other nations/cultures/peoples.

*Both* steps are needed to fix the problems. Neither one alone will work.

Dissenting opinions equal cowardice?

For the record, I personally am not sure what the United States should do about these attacks. I do however think that some thought should be applied rather then just bombing everyone that moves regardless of civilian casualties.

I live in Brooklyn NY, and I witnessed the second WTC tower fall yesterday from the sidewalk in front of my house. There is a Palestinian refrigeration supply store next door to my apartment. They were as upset about the attacks as you are. However, they also feared for their safety and elected to close there stores and go home for the day (as did all the stores in my neighborhood owned by Arabs).

My point is that if we are to do something, it should be a calculated helpful thing to people, not just the obligatory military response. I'm not saying that a military response is not justified I just thing that calmness (i.e. not calling people cowards that disagree with you) should be the order of the day.

Rudy Giuliani's speech urging restraint and togetherness was the right message.

Re:Cowards

>You people who think that we are inviting more terrorism have it exactly backwards. That is how the terrorists want you to feel! The want you to feel fear, to give in to whatever demands they make.

No. They want terror. They want disruption. They want us to be so twisted by rage and fear that we can no longer function as a nation.

These are people who believe that America is an evil and terrible nation. I believe they are wrong. But if we go charging into the Middle East without a proper investigation, without being sure that we're going after the right man or group, we WILL be PROVING ourselves to be as bad as they claim.

I'm not saying we shouldn't react to this terrible offense. I'm saying we shouldn't lash out blindly at the first target to present itself.

Re:Cowards

It's time for Sheriff Uncle Same to ride into town, and kick some bad-guy ass. The cowards who wring their hands over what needs to be done make me sick. Go hide under your bed, and allow the grown-ups to do what needs to be done.

Unfortunately it's that attitude on both sides that caused this mess. The American government regularly "kicks ass" all over the world and creates a lot of resentment among the poor people who suffer because of it.

Now some of those bitter angry people have found a way to strike back. They probably feel exactly the way you do - eager to "kick some ass".

I'm neither American nor Arabic, so I suppose I can't really understand the anger that these groups feel for each other, but I am sad at what looks like an escalation of needless killing. So now you want to bomb some more Arabs. More angry people will join terrorist organizations, and more Americans will be killed. So when does it end? Does one side have to be totally anihilated? That's crazy.

If the U.S. wants justice the answer is to support international organizations like the international court. Give them the mandate and the resources to pursue international criminals. Unfortunately the current administration is following the opposite policy: witholding money from the U.N., and refusing to support the international court. Sad, but that's what happens when you let cowboys into the Whitehouse.