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Infidel, nothing I say ...

Reader comment on item: Which Has More Islamist Terrorism, Europe or America?
in response to reader comment: Anne Julienne has all the answers

Submitted by Anne Julienne (Australia), Jul 8, 2008 at 21:54

Infidel, nothing I say will change your mind, so what's the use? Still, here goes on a point or two... In the given scenario, the pilots' guns would be of no use with the hostage necks under the knife. The pilots would be obliged to consider passenger safety over their own. In hindsight, you know that everyone was going to die but the pilots would not have known that at the time. The element of surprise was gone with the fourth plane on sep11 and they overpowered the terrorists without needing guns.

There is no suggestion that any terrorists were directly killed through the passenger onslaught, only that their control of the plane was challenged. There is even doubt that the passengers breached the cockpit. In all this, they needed no guns, just courage and determination. Entebbe was another victory based critically on the element of surprise. As with sep11, a great deal of precise planning was involved and a great deal of individual courage was required, but that element of surprise was crucial to ultimate victory. Whether I'm a Muslim or an apologist for Islam is irrelevant to the issues under discussion.

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