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We interrupt the Democracy Laundry List (which will continue shortly) to bring you this:
On the ongoing 9/11 casualty front, Suburban Guerilla has an interesting entry [http://susiemadrak.com/2006/09/12/10/51/compare-and-contrast-14/]
citing a Daily Kos story [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/11/193549/448] regarding the airline ticket agents who checked
in 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta on the day of the deadly flights. One of the ticket agents has reportedly killed herself, although
I have not yet seen verification of her death.
This from Daily Kos on 9/11/06 regarding these events (and regarding possibly slanderous suggestions in a rightward-tilted
ABC "docudrama" appearing to blame the ticket agents):
"One of Oprah's guests today was Michael Tuohey, an employee of US AIR who checked in Mohammed Atta and one of the
other hijackers on the morning of Sept. 11.
"A 37-year employee of US Air, Touhey said he's recently started to see Atta's face staring at him from cabs that
pass by on the street or even at his local mall, that even though he knows it's not him, Atta looks as real to him today as
it did on Sept. 11.
"Two ticket agents checked in Atta that day, Touhey and a woman with American Airlines in Boston. Touhey said the
woman has already committed suicide, and he didn't seem far from it on the show. (No warning by Atta's name at all, BTW, you
idiots at ABC. Nothing. ID checked out. Ticket checked out. Nothing to tell this broken man he shouldn't send Atta on his
way.)
"Touhey said Atta and the other hijacker had $2,500 first-class tickets from Maine to Boston and that Atta really
gave him the creeps, like no one ever had before in all his 37 years.
"But Atta had ID and a ticket and answered all the security questions correctly. There were no other security procedures
in place in the pre-9/11 world.
"The only thing Touhey could do was not give Atta and the other hijacker their boarding passes for the American Airlines
flight they were scheduled to catch in Boston, which meant they'd have to check in with another ticket agent, one more chance
for someone to do... well, the guy didn't say what. It was just the only thing he could do, absent any heightened security
alerts. And there were none in place on Sept. 11."
So, in effect, as both Suburban Guerilla and Daily Kos point out, two ticket agents who were powerless to prevent an unthinkable
attack have been consumed with guilt (one reportedly to the point of suicide), while a far more powerful player who dismissed
early warnings about a kamikaze-style air terrorist attack by telling an underling "Okay, you've covered your ass"
has continued to carry on cockily and guilt-free. That player, as you may know, is President George W. Bush.
It's a tragic study in the unduly guilt-ridden versus the conscience-free.
© 2006 Bruce A. Jacobs (Posted 9/13/06)
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