Homeland Security: What Really Happened?

Homeland Security: What Really Happened?

America stopped the day terrorists hijacked three separate jets and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. We were shocked and devastated by the total number of casualties that amounted that day. A controversy arose about whether or not the United States Government knew about a possible attack by the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Some think that there was no concrete evidence that could have helped the CIA or FBI prevent the attacks. Others think that officials ignored early signs and information about the attacks. A movie that was recently shown on NBC called Homeland Security depicted a somewhat fictitious yet also information account of the events that took place prior to and after September 11th in 2001. The problem with this movie was that it did not tell the most accurate account of the Homeland Security organization which was created after 9/11.

Homeland Security started out with a scene of the McKee family driving their daughter Melissa to Newark airport so she can catch her flight to school. Her father, Admiral McKee, apparently drove too slow making her miss her flight to school. The movie later explains that her flight was the one that was hijacked and crashed into an open field in Pennsylvania. Through the next few scenes, the viewers are led to believe that Melissa was on that flight and died. The movie then introduces the character named Achmed who appears to be Middle Eastern. He was the boyfriend of Melissa McKee. The strange thing about how the movie opened is that this one girl who's father is later given the title of head to Homeland Security, happens to be scheduled to be on one of the 9/11 attack flights, and is dating a Middle Eastern boy who is later revealed as a member of the Taliban. Although it is just a movie, the movie was supposed to illustrate the events that took place right before, during, and after September 11th. The fact that Admiral McKee's daughter was supposed to be killed in a hijacked plane and is dating a member of the Taliban is a little hard to swallow. (NBC Sunday night movie)

From that point aside there are a few other holes in the movie Homeland Security. In the actual events that took place on 9/11, a few members of the Taliban were trained to fly planes so that they could later hijack a few passenger jets and crash them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and The White House. These members, who gave fake names and false identification, were trained at the Pensecola Naval Air Station according to the Pensecola News Journal. However, in the NBC movie a Middle Eastern man named Mohammed Atta was shown flying a plane with a flight instructor. The idea was given that the terrorists were taught how to fly planes and crash them into buildings at a random flight school. This could be a way for the creators of the movie to hide the fact that an actual U.S. Naval Air Station trained the people who later used their newly found skills to fly American passenger jets into American buildings. (Rense.com)

The question of "Could we have prevented 9/11 from happening?" is a question that will be debated for years to come. However, some think that they know the answer to the question, "Did we know this was going to happen?" There are many issues dealing with the subject of whether or not the CIA or FBI knew about potential terror attacks. According to Yahoo News, John Ashcroft, the attorney general, had been warned of potential attacks on the nation in the summer of 2001. Thomas Pickard, who was an FBI agent at the time, brought Ashcroft a report that explained a possible terror attack in the near future. This was after Ashcroft has already been briefed twice about the subject. The attorney general's response to Pickard was that he didn't want to hear this information anymore. (yahoo.com/news)

There were also allied countries that offered a warning to the United States about possible terror attacks a few months prior to 9/11. The Jerusalem Post printed an article explaining how Mossad warned the CIA about potential terror attacks from Al-Qaeda. The article was printed on September 18th, 2001. The British also warned the CIA if possible terror attacks prior to the day that the actual attacks occurred. The Times of London printed an article in June of 2002 explaining that they had also tried to warn the United States as the Israelis did. The French gave the United States information about the attacks as well. They also published an article explaining that they tried to help in The Village Voice. All of these countries printed articles in their major newspapers about how they warned the United States about terror attacks for a few reasons. They didn't want to look like they just stood by and let it happen. They also wanted to show that they were friendly to America. As an opinion alone, one would also think that these countries published these articles in a way to make the American Government look stubborn and ignorant in an "I told you so" manner. In any case, this is how the CIA found out about the possibility of a terror attack on the country. In the NBC movie, there was a scene with about four CIA agents working on documents that they had collected from informants and research. In a matter of what looked like one night, the agents put together the theory that the code of a letter containing the phrase "I am going to buy 9 donkeys and 11 horses" or similar phrases meant that something would happen on September 11th or November 9th. Although it is more audience pleasing for the CIA to figure out the possibility of the attack on their own, in reality they were warned months in advance rather than figuring it out about a week before the attacks.

Many people know Osama Bin Laden as American enemy #1. He is the individual who took credit for organizing the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and the attempt at the White House. The United States has been after this man since the Clinton Administration was in office in 1993. By holding a high