We Got Lucky --- 9/11 Could Have Been A Lot Worse

Posted by Joshua White on 09.13.2006

9/11/01 was a terrible day for the United States. Yet, because of a little bit of luck and some poor planning on the parts of the terrorists it could have been much worse.

Before I get to my actual comments, as is normal by now, I have some other comments that I would like to make. If you are an avid fan of mine (and you should be) then you know that I and Ray Church have been having a little ongoing debate. I thought that my last column would be taken as a joke. I meant most of it humorously. So, I officially am done with the little tiff that we've been having. Church won, and I used the wrong word for his fallacy. The end. Moving on...

I guess it is the moral obligation of every American who is even remotely connected to politics or the news to stop what they are doing and talk only about 9/11/01 for the week surrounding the anniversary. I really did want to buck this trend. But alas, I couldn't. As it was the only think on tv, in the news, and being talked about, it was one of the few things that I could think about. Now I am not going to tell you where I was or what I thought about when 9/11/01 happened. More interesting feelings about the day are available from the actual victims. However, I do have a different take on what the carnage that happened five years Monday.

We all know that 9/11/01 was a horrible day in history. About 3,000 people died, buildings were destoryed, and lives were drastically altered. We are told this all the time. What isn't mentioned as often is that 9/11/01 could have been much worse. For the rest of my column I will be explaining the mistakes that the terrorists made five years ago and how we are lucky. It could have all been more devestating.

(I realize that this is a difficult topic for many. Save Flight 93, it seems that the terrorists succeeded in almost every way. To explain how they could have done it "better" seems to do an injustice to those who died in the attacks. However, I want to treat this topic as a historical one, much like we debate the mistakes that Hitler made during World War 2.)

Mistakes made by terrorists:

1. They attacked too early in the morning.

It was 8:36 when the first plane hit Tower 1. This is before most people get to work. I reailze that many get to work at 8 (or earlier), but many of the lower level people (mid-level management, secrataries, janitors, and so on) don't get there until 9. By hitting so early in the morning many people were able to avoid death because they hadn't entered their office yet.

Obviously, when the workers got to the towers, if they worked in Tower 1, then they didn't enter. However, the timing also affects Tower 2. By hitting the Tower 1 before nine, those who would have come to work at Tower 2 didn't go in. By hitting so early the workers of both buildings were spared.

A seperate problem deals with heavy morning traffic. Flight 93 was scheduled to depart at 8:00. Yet, because of the heavy traffic it didn't take off until nearly a 45 minutes later. This delay allowed the first two attacks to take place before the hikacking of Flight 93 to occur. The people on the plane called their family and found out that other flights have been hijacked and their flight was probably a part of this same plot. Once they found out about these going ons they then decided to take action. I think that it is likely that if the passagers of Flight 93 didn't find out what had happened eariler in the morning they wouldn't have fought back. Without the revolt I think that the passagers would have actined just like those on the other three planes. With them responding this way the Capital building or White House (whichever was part of their plan) would certainly have been destroyed.

2. They hit too high in the tower.

While I couldn't find out specifically what floors were hit by each plane, it is commonly known that they hit the top one third of each tower. This was fortunate for many of those in the buildings. Sadly those above the impact were stranded, but many of those below were able to escape (though some didn't beacuse they were told to stay put).

Had the terrorists hit lower in the buildings more people would have been forced to stay in the building as the iron heated, weakened and ultimately collapsed. This would have obviously lead to more deaths.


When all was said and done in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania, almost 3,000 people were dead, billions of dollar of damage was done and our security was breached. Yet, it is all too often overlooked how lucky we were on that day. Whether it was because they didn't realize the consequences of their actions, or because it was simple dumb luck, we did have some fortunate outcomes on that day. And while we should certainly remember how terrible that day was for our people we should also be thankful that what the terrorists ultimately wanted (upwards of 40,000 people dead) didn't come to fruition.

Am I right? Wrong? Did I miss any other mistakes that the terrorists made or things that went our way on 9/11/01? Write me and tell me.

Until next time…believe nothing unless you read it here.