[Diddle E. Squat]

Take off the tinfoil hat so you can hear me better. Your exaggerated injuries comment just sunk your battleship.

WTC was intended to be a delayed one-two punch, a common terrorist technique to ensnare the rescue workers. No, their failure was down in DC. I can't believe the Pentagon was more of a symbolic prize than the Capitol would have been. My guess is that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th targets were in DC: Pentagon, Capitol, & White House. WH was too hard to pick up coming in from the west, perhaps the 1st circle on the Capitol was too difficult(rumor was flight school said one of these guys was a crummy pilot), so they went for the Pent., with the expectation of follow up attacks. The only thing I don't get was why they did this attack when Bush was out of town. With all the inside info they had, surely they knew he wasn't at the WH. But the idea that one of these hijacked planes would take out AF1 makes absolutely no sense.

So all I can guess is that they may have wanted him out of the WH, so as not to be in the bunker. Of course if the WH was the 1st target, that point would be mute. But my guess is that there was a ground plan for Bush, perhaps a SAM(but high risk of failure) or suitcase nuke somewhere near his return to DC. but the delayed return allowed for a tightening of security that closed that window. But this theory seems unlikely, too.

[John Jamieson]

Your exaggerated injuries comment just sunk your battleship. I guess the flaw in my logic was so obvious that you forgot to address it.

I pretty much agree with the rest of what you said. AF1 was never a possible target of any attack that we know of.

[razorback-bert]

But the idea that one of these hijacked planes would take out AF1 makes absolutely no sense.

True, however expecting a mr clinton response, they expected the President to fly straight away to the cameras. Then who knows what they had planned for DC.

BTW, one plane hit the WTC to attract the media, the second came later to make sure it was seen on live TV.

[piasa]

The only thing I don't get was why they did this attack when Bush was out of town. With all the inside info they had, surely they knew he wasn't at the WH. But the idea that one of these hijacked planes would take out AF1 makes absolutely no sense.

It may be that with all the talk about how much of an idiot Bush is supposed to be, a mere figurehead as the folks on the left and the Europeans had for so long claimed, with his presidency in question and supposedly not popular, that they figured he was less critical than Cheney. It may also be, what with the terrorist links in Florida, that there was a team down here to take him out as the plane took off, or by some other means.