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Mon 12 May, 2003 12:55 am
What does a govt that lives by the grace of fear has to do when no major terror events occured since 9/11?
They invent them!!!! They help feed the fear that Bush wants us to have to help justify his policy and give him a free hand in home security.
Quote:The United States is embarking on a five-day training exercise on Monday aimed at preparing two major US cities to handle simulated large-scale terrorist attacks.
The pretend attacks will be conducted in Seattle on the west coast and Chicago and will be co-ordinated by the new Department of Homeland Security in Washington DC.
President George W Bush's Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge calls this a full-scale exercise responding to plausible threats to the United States.
Mr Ridge will spend the five days in the White House, keeping the president briefed.
Warning given
Around America, 8,500 people will take part in the operation, which will begin on Monday with a simulation of a radiological weapon, a "dirty bomb", being set off in Seattle.
At roughly the same time, there will be a simulated biological attack on Chicago, with thousands of patients showing symptoms of serious illnesses beginning to appear in Chicago hospitals on Tuesday.
The people of both Seattle and Chicago have had plenty of warning of all this activity, with posters and news bulletins announcing the mock attacks for the last week so as to avoid panic.
The exercise is planned to end on a positive note, with suspects being arrested at the end of the week. 
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3019097.stm
Add to that the connected bombings in Tchetchenya and Saudi-Arabia. Putin himself declared those two related. Big truck bombs weighing hundreds of pounds. Shredding entire families to pieces.
Colin Powell and Bush shouting "It's Al Qaeda! " a few hours later, and "Our war on terror is just!" only strengthens the fact that this administration, by means of CIA operations, is continuing its phony pretences.
Al Qaeda=CIA
I think there is a lot that they are't telling us. But I will be honest with you. I feel its a good idea to do drills.
In school, every 2 months here in Reno, The kids do a Fire Drill. The alarms go off and they march out to their designated spots. Is this a bad Idea or a good one. I feel its good.
In an emergency, if you dont know what to do, you panic. If you practice it first, then you can reasonably control your fear and evacuate safely and quietly. It makes sure the information has been spread. So that in case something bad does happen, they can get to where they need to go. I can not see how this can hurt. Nor how it spreads fear.
Personally, Even though I'm not in Either city, I hope they do one in mine. I would feel much more secure and confidant if anything bad were to happen.
Puhleez- Some people will see something dirty in the crotch of a tree. When I was in elementary school we had "bomb drills", where we all sat under our desks. I think that it is a good idea to make people aware that something might happen, so that they can be mentally prepared for it.
Frolic- Do you carry fire insurance on your house? What is the probability that your house will burn down?
One of the cities involved with the drills is Chicago. The population of the inner City of Chicago is about 3.5 million . When one includes the surrounding towns around Chicago, this number is in excess of 8 million.
Bear in mind, that the largest air port in the US, O'Hare is located in Chicago.
Taking all of this in mind, the idea of excercises in Chicago is an excellent idea. Why wait till trouble strikes. Let's be prepared and let's do it now. Chicago is "on the money" in this case.
Moreover, anyone familar with the water supply and sanitation systems of Chicago, knows that these systems together with Lake Michigan could be critical targets for any terrorist operation.
Training of population on how to act in case of emergency has nothing to do with politics. It is a humanitarian action intended to decrease as much as possible the number of casualties if something really happens. Unfortunately, some people have such a degree of irrational hatred toward the current U.S. President that they find negative explanations for absolutely positive activities...
I think Frolic has a point, and was amused to hear the shenanigans being slightly ridiculed in the media. Certainly rescue practices etc. are necessary, but there IS something ludicrous about people earnestly doing a fake rescue which has been planned long in advance, everyone standing in place waiting for the bomb to drop, the first fake victims of bio-terrorism clutching their throats dramatically and falling to the ground... and then getting up again and grabbing a styrofoam cup of coffee... In school at least we didn't know when the bell for fire drill was going to go off...
Um, I live in Seattle, and it's the first I've heard of it.
Just as well, I s'pose. When things happen on a large scale here, people seem to end up getting tear gassed.
Not to worry, patiodog--this chaos was sanctioned by the authorities. No tear gas this time. Just lots of really great TV footage with top-notch production values...
Yeah, I see from the Sea Times article that they even woke up the mayor for this one. Good work.
Yeah, he was all over it. I believe he pronounced us "ready." I'll sleep better tonight...
Oh, good. I feel safe with Greg watching over me.
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