FLIGHT 93 AND URBAN LEGENDS

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_en_mo/film_united93


This really, REALLY gets up my nose.

Of all places, WorldNetDaily (a CONSERVATIVE, RIGHT-WING publication no less, who'd be more inclined to foster the opposite) here: - "Echoing reports made immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, several eyewitnesses claim in a report by London's Daily Mirror that they saw a "military-type" plane flying around United Airlines Flight 93 when the hijacked passenger jet crashed in rural Pennsylvania -- prompting the unthinkable question of whether the U.S. military shot down the plane."

Further down:

"On the Sept. 16, 2001, edition of NBC's "Meet the Press," Vice President Dick Cheney, while not addressing Flight 93 specifically, spoke clearly to the administration's clear policy regarding shooting down hijacked jets.
Vice President Cheney: "Well, the -- I suppose the toughest decision was this question of whether or not we would intercept incoming commercial aircraft."
NBC's Tim Russert: "And you decided?"
Cheney: "We decided to do it. We'd, in effect, put a flying combat air patrol up over the city; F-16s with an AWACS, which is an airborne radar system, and tanker support so they could stay up a long time...
"It doesn't do any good to put up a combat air patrol if you don't give them instructions to act, if, in fact, they feel it's appropriate."
Russert: "So if the United States government became aware that a hijacked commercial airline[r] was destined for the White House or the Capitol, we would take the plane down?"
Cheney: "Yes. The president made the decision ... that if the plane would not divert ... as a last resort, our pilots were authorized to take them out. Now, people say, you know, that's a horrendous decision to make. Well, it is. You've got an airplane full of American citizens, civilians, captured by ... terrorists, headed and are you going to, in fact, shoot it down, obviously, and kill all those Americans on board?
"... It's a presidential-level decision, and the president made, I think, exactly the right call in this case, to say, I wished we'd had combat air patrol up over New York.'"

We find this sort of foolishness in our own homes. No matter where we go.
The unwillingness to listen. We hang on doggedly to these asininities, and denounce the purveyors of research, the opposing viewpoint, in case it dislodges our comfort levels.

Please note that I am in no way marginalizing the actions taken by the passengers. It was bravery indeed. But the confirmation was fresh out of the gate, less than a week after Black Tuesday.

I also recall, reading in a local newspaper (some years ago), how one of the widows (A Mrs. Burnett, no less), who had still received absolutely no information from the White House in re: Flight 93.

The more irritating part is that no matter where I'd come up with that info (hey, I could be working for the airlines, or the FCC), Id probably be dismissed out of hand. Why? Because we prefer romance to reality, folklore and fiction to fact.

Honestly? I rather enjoy the fiction.
But I'd rather have the truth, regardless.