Capitol Evacuated Again
Posted by Moonage on 11 May 2005 | Tagged as: The Media
"Run, this is no joke, leave the grounds," a U.S. Secret Service agent told CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. The White House and Capitol Building were evacuated briefly today due to a small aircraft getting too far into the restricted airspace of DC. People were sent scrambling into the streets of Washington DC. The very quick decision to evacuate made for some interesting tv watching. But, as I expected, and before I could even get to my computer, people were already criticizing the DC and federal authorities for their actions.
The main justification for the criticism is that this is the type of airplane that violated the airspace. According to them, it’s too small for any serious explosives, and therefore the main threat would have been biological or chemical weapons. Given that, it would have been better for the people to have stayed inside and if you’re going to evacuate anything, it would have been The Pentagon since the wind was blowing southwest.
I just hate hearing all this garbage. In regards to the safety of people in DC, I don’t want any indecision in regards to plans to protect them. I have family there, this is personal to me. I don’t exactly know the capacity of modern technology to determine exactly what the aircraft was or what it could have been capable of doing. What I do know is that people are almost always safer outside than in. I also know that a plane doing 100 mph is about 2 to 3 minutes away from its target. There’s no time for indecision. There’s no time to analyze the intent or capability of the aircraft.
The officials in DC did a damn good job. Someone needs to be saying that.
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