quote:
Originally posted by Rob Kamphausen:
...there is speculation -- what is there to present this from happening again? will there be protection for the buildings? will anyone want to work in them, knowing what happened? how long/how much to build them? etc, etc.
Regarding T-Dave's point first, about the B-17 that hit the Empire state building, it was a far smaller plane than the 767 model that hit the trade center towers. I listened to an interview with two structural designers on PBS, saying there was a chance that the buildings would have remained standing if not for the feul that set an intense fire burning in the building. And that the steel becomes unable to hold its load once it's heated at 1500 degrees or higher, which took about an hour to occur in each of the towers, after the jet impact. The building was designed to withstand fire from more predictable sources of building fires, but not the intense fire of an exploding jet and its feul, deep into the structure.
Regarding rebuilding the two towers, I think that is very important symbolism.
I think our government will insure with new safety procedures that no commercial jet can be stolen in this same way again. And that if any plane poses a similar threat, there will be fighter jets ready to scramble at anything that comes close.
Regarding an incident where some nut crashed a small plane into the white house a few years ago, I understand there are now missiles and artilery in place to prevent a similar incident.
Would people be afraid of entering work at a new set of rebuilt twin towers? Well, I can see that, but there's just as much risk of any other building being attacked and destroyed, or at this point, any other major American landmark or monument (does anyone remember the guy in 1982 who locked himself in the Washington monument and said he had a nuclear bomb? False claim, but it was a nervous few hours.)
Or for that matter, the entire city of New York is a target, for nuclear, chemical, biological weapons. We can't live our lives in fear, that's what they want!! We just need to have organized nationwide preparation for any future incidents, with medical, fire-rescue and anti-terrorist teams ready in the tens of thousands to respond instantly to, and hopefully even prevent a future incident.
Preparation, not fear.
