Reading the 9/11 Report

I'm a short ways into the 9/11 Report, and so far it has been quite interesting. A couple of points:

1. God bless the men and women on Flight 93! It is important for every American (and everyone else in the world, for that matter) to realize that submitting to the demands of terrorists in this day and age will probably not save your life. Look at how many hostages in Iraq have been executed, versus the tiny number who were freed. On the other hand, if you resist with all the violence available to you, you may save not only your own life but the lives of others as well. Even if you die, you will at least die on your feet and not on your knees.

If I should ever run into terrorists, I am already dead; it only remains to me to take a few of them with me, if I can.

2. The report mentions that the military, in their testimony, was so concerned with disguising the massive foul-ups in communication that went on, that they claimed to know about the hijackings before they even happened! For example, pg. 34: "...NORAD officials stated that at 9:16, NEADS received hijack notification of United 93 from the FAA. This statement was incorrect. There was no hijack to report at 9:16. United 93 was proceeding normally at that time."

I have serious problems with an organization that is more interested in covering their backside than in trying to fix problems so that they can do their job. Never mind that they were testifying under oath. The military hierarchy has issues with their priorities, and the culture over there really needs to be shaken up. I just hope that they can do it before their idiocy kills more people. For example, the XM-8 rifle needs to be chambered in something bigger than the 5.56 mm NATO "poodleshooter" round, but enough people are invested in maintaining the status quo so that it will be very tough to get changes going.

My first class in "Security Studies: Strategy" starts in a half hour. Should be fun.