"The System Worked"

That's what Janet Incompetano told us confidently, “The system worked” when a disaster was averted when the detonator didn’t work, and the passengers didn’t do what earlier administrations advised them to do when an airliner was attacked; nothing. “Just sit quietly and you’ll eventually be released when it’s over.” But that didn’t happen on four airplanes on September 11, 2001. Everybody, on all four planes, died, along with thousands of people in the three buildings the terrorists flew them into. This changed forever how passengers reacted to a hijack attempt, to their credit. There have been several such attempts since, and all have been foiled by passengers who pulled a “let’s roll” action on the would-be hijackers. One hijacker even got severely beaten.

If that’s the ”system” to which she referred, she’s right. But it isn’t. The “system” failed miserably. They were warned several times, beginning with the warning the hijacker’s own FATHER gave us a month before his attempt—which was ignored, except to put his name on a “no-fly” list with hundreds of thousands of names on it. A list that was not consulted when he forced his way onto the plane without a passport with (hopefully, for him) exploding jockeys. Thanks to brave passengers, he was restrained after burning his legs and genitals; which I consider “providential.” (Town Hall)