Scotty, you hit the nail right on the head. Not to say "heads rolling" is "fair"..i imagine it isn't usually...but... surprise attacks are nothing new. Of course one administration can blame the next in US. Going forward at least, we'll get some accountability for some time (I hope). To conduct the "Worlds Only Superpower"s foreign policy that the USA does [which we'll mercifully skip - but I think George Carlin has a part of it covered somewhere], the military and intelligence and $$$ for such better be there to back it up...., Is there any truth Scotty, to the story that the Checkens were able to place a "dirty bomb" in Gorky(sp?) Park (or somewhere in Russia)? Just to keep this aviation related, did y'all know Jacqueline Kennedy designed the attractive livery we see on AF1? Thats what I heard. Tom Fan of Bubba (Titular head of the Democratic Party and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces at the time) asking Webb Hubbell (now a convicted felon?) to find out for him if there was truth to extraterrestrial visiting earth and the JFK assassination conspiracy. Jeeez, what questions will these Rhoadhes Schollars and Feds ask next? Does anyone remember if he wore briefs or boxers? sorry, I missed that....must've been watching X-files and waiting for the tooth fairy.... In a message dated 03/11/2002 1:12:54 PM Eastern Standard Time, scotty2hotty wrote: > >>[And in Russia I seem to remember some guy flew straight into some > >>sensitive area. > > It wasn't just some sensitive area which Matthias Rust (a teenager) flew > into. He landed near the wall of the Kremlin in Red Square, after a flight > which originated in Helsinki. I remember that this incident happened in the > evening of May 1987 on a Soviet national holiday. There isn't a hope in hell > he would have succeeded in landing in Red Square on May Day, so I am > assuming it would have been on 28 May, which was the national holiday > celebrating the National Border Guards....the Border Guards being > responsible for protecting the very border which Rust had to fly over on his > way into Soviet airspace. > > At the time, Gorbachev was in power in Moscow, and immediately following > this incident the Soviet Defence Minister Sergei Sokolov was given the arse > by Gorby. There were other things going on behind the scenes in terms of > this sacking, but the Rust incident was the major reason for the sacking. > > The Rust incident is largely responsible for Gorbachev rapidly introducing > glasnost and perestroika into every day Soviet life. > > Although the Red Square incident was not a terrorist one, the thing which I > was wondering about some time ago, is that there has clearly been a > breakdown in communication between the various American military and > intelligence organisations, or that the intelligence just wasn't there in > the lead up to the attacks. It is find to have national unity and > solidarity and such, but why didn't heads roll in Washington last year?