AF-2 Flying over Jersey/Manhattan is TORTURE! Check out Eyewitness to Flight

[KoKo]

Early this morning a loan plane was sighted by folks who lived through "9/11" flying around buildings escorted by what was reported as "Fighter Jets." What an incredible experience that must have been.

Here's an EYEWITNESS from Josh Marshall's "TPM" site describing what he went through:

On That Flyover Idea

TPM Reader AN checks in ...

I actually work on a very high floor in 1 Liberty Plaza. The window to my back overlooks the WTC site and the Hudson river. This morning as I was working a co-worker came by my desk and started staring out the window. At first I had no idea what he was staring at so he pointed to the plane. By that time it was far away enough and when he told me that it was pretty low and close to the buildings in lower Manhattan I thought he might just be overreacting a little until the plane did its second (of what I think was 3) fly over. My co-worker said that he was pretty sure that it was Air Force One based on the colors but I didn't think anyone at the White House would be so completely brain dead to allow that to happen.

Whoever thought this was a good idea is a total idiot. Whoever thought it was a good idea to do this without mentioning anything about it to the public is a bigger idiot. If I'd gotten a memo the week before informing me this was going to take place I probably would have watched and thought 'hey that's pretty cool.' Instead I watched and thought 'I hope that plane doesn't crash into my building.' Followed by the thought 'I hope that plane doesn't hit one of the buildings in Jersey City' followed by 'If this isn't terrorism related why is that plane flanked by a fighter jet?'

And lets not even start with what the guys working at the WTC site must have been thinking.

--Josh Marshall

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[HereSince1628]

1. At least it didn't involve a dog collar and naked buttocks. n/t

[KoKo]

4. For those who lost "loved ones" .....it might have been a horrible experience

akin to torture, though. If you think about it.....

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. And for those who worked down there on 9/11, suffering from PTSD, it would be torture too.

[KoKo]

14. It's horrific to think that ANYONE still serving in Government could have done this Fiasco...

but then...I'm just one of those "dumbed down Murkins" who just tune on CNN and "go with the flow."

[KoKo]

18. I know...and sadly since the Blue Dog Dems won't Confirm Obama Appointees..it's what we get

with the Repugs still holding "Filibuster" over our heads. How can we BREAK this Log Jam? :shrug:

[KoKo]

23. Sadly...Harry Reid seems very "Afraid" of that Filibuster..even though Repugs

paid him no attention.

I don't know. Reid seems much more a problem for Progressive Dems and a Danger to our Party than Nancy Pelosi...but just my humble opinion...

[Fuzz]

2. It was a very bad idea

[valerief]

3. I wonder who was responsible for the decision. The public HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW!!!! nt

[KoKo]

5. Josh got a response from Obama Administration...Here:

WHO the HELL is Louise Caldera who is serving as spokesperson for Obama Administration?

Response Here:
----------------------------

White House Responds

Just out from the White House on the flyover ...

Statement from Louis Caldera, Director White House Military Office, on Air Force One flight over New York

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

--Josh Marshall

[valerief]

16. Thanks. Wonder what it was for. For a movie? Some rich dude? nt

[MidwestTransplant]

6. Pretty boneheaded of the USAF. Freepers are calling for Obama's impeachment

[barbtries]

10. that's funny

today, they flew by. while their golden boy was president, they flew into. big difference. having said that i think louis caldera and unnamed others - whoever decided not to publicize the fly by, should be out of a job. if they don't have the courage to resign, fire them.

[KoKo]

24. Freepers always have that "shovel ready approch" to anything "Saint Cheney" spews out....

because it covers their Asses...or more importantly their HIGH ROLLER DONORS ASSES!

[Snazzy]

7. wacky stupid

Buzzed with a presidential 747?! Who gets these pictures? Sure hope it isn't White House political or we will be hearing about this for long time. Needs better 'splainin'.



In this image taken with a cell phone by Jason McLane, the primary presidential aircraft, a Boeing 747 known as Air Force One when the president is aboard, flies low over New York Harbor, followed by an F-16 chase plane during a federal government photo op Monday, April 27, 2009. A low-flying Boeing 747 escorted by two fighter jets as part of a federal government photo opportunity over lower Manhattan caused a brief panic among workers near ground zero on Monday. (AP)

[KoKo]

11. When I turned on TV this AM...I heard: Swine Flu KILLER..and "Plane Escorted by Fighter Pilots over

Manhattan.... "BREAKING NEWS on CNN/CNBC/MSNBC! I thought I was back in Bush America...It was so OTT...
Following the story it was hard to understand what it was all about..

So many of us are SO TIRED of this...well...I call it MANIPULATION for psychological reasons.

How do we deal? I can because I lived through "Duck and Cover Nuclear, Nixon, and the rest....but I worry that so many of our younger DU'ers buy all this stuff and suck it down..

I worry.....about PERSPECTIVE!

[Art_from_Ark]

19. Duck and cover drills

I think in the waning days of "duck and cover", the drills in Arkansas, at least, had more to do with preparing for another incident like the one that happened near Searcy, Arkansas, in 1965, in which a fire occurred in a nuclear missile silo causing the deaths of more than 50 workers. Eventually, "duck and cover" drills morphed into tornado drills.

[Snazzy]

22. early 70's gradeschool in NY

still had 'em. Somehow I also have an early memory of understanding MAD--good school.

[Art_from_Ark]

30. We had duck-and-cover drills in the 65-66 school year,

which started about 3 weeks after the Searcy incident. But by around '68 or so they had morphed into tornado drills, basically the same drill for a much more imminent hazard.

[KoKo]

26. Remember the Polio Scares? McCarthy and Communists Under Our Bed?

Plotting and Scheming. I had flu probably four times in my life. I would have died twice without some anti-biotic help..the other two (sick as sick can be) I didn't have insurance so I rode it out.

So, it's hard to understand the ARMAGEDDON posts here...as if no one in America ever faced a flu...and that this one is SO DIFFERENT...we need to "Man the Barricades" because without MASKS, HAND WIPES and BORDER CONTROL...we WILL ALL BE DEAD WITH OUR RELATIVES AND CHILDREN....

:eyes: Maybe I've just become too Pragmatic over the years...

[Art_from_Ark]

34. Polio scares were a little before my time

as was McCarthyism, but the McCarthyites probably just morphed into the John Birchers who were so vocal when I was growing up.

But I certainly have seen my share of pandemic scares, including the swine flu panic of the 1970s, so I agree, it's hard to understand the ARMAGEDDON posts here.

[Snazzy]

20. If I caught that out the office windows

of one of those buildings, that like what, maybe 2 million ppl who haven't been laid off yet could have seen it from, I'd be beyond pissed. "Lets fly a jumbo low to ground zero and chase it with a fighter!" Brilliant. Got to be pound of flesh for this one.

(And yeah I did Nixon too and don't scare easy, but this is a special kind of insensitive stupid).

[KoKo]

27. Agree...what else can one say...eom

[Snazzy]

32. another shot

from NYT article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/nyregion/28plane.html

[etherealtruth]

8. Sometimes I am simply astounded

What was on the minds of those responsible ... 9/11 was a terrible day for our country ... it was an horrific day for New Yorkers.

Those equating this with torture are really not over-reacting.

WTF

[KoKo]

15. You don't think having "AF-2 "Fly Over Manhatten ...Buzzing the places of the Terrorists

equates to TORTURE...for those who lost all this: Spouses, Children, Lovers, Nieces, Nephews, Business Partners,Enterprise and all the REST????...on that TERRIBLE DAY THAT Ended up with America (US/TAX DOLLARS) Invading TWO COUNTRIES and ENDLESS WAR AND DEBT?

[etherealtruth]

17. Did you happen to read what I wrote?

"Those equating this with torture are really not over-reacting."

I'm keeping the snark down because i think if you read my post again you may respond differently ....????

By stating that its NOT an over-reaction to equate todays episode with torture, implies that I think it was akin to torture.

Your response to me doesn't make sense ...???????

[DS1]

28. Germans, Pearl Harbor. You know the routine, it's DU

[barbtries]

9. there should be massive apologies to the people of NYC

and the person or persons responsible for letting this play out like this should lose their jobs. i can only imagine the terror - terror! and who caused that terror?

[KoKo]

12. To put innocents and those who lived through that terrible day through this once again..

Well...words cannot describe. Many new DU'ers only remember "9/11" as some distant point about why we needed CHANGE. But, for so many Americans and New Yorkers/New Jerseyites...it's that "Day that will Live in Infamy." (to quote FDR about Pearl Harbor...also a fave of NeoCons)

[DS1]

21. OMG NO LOW FLYING FOR 60 YEARS!

[Occam Bandage]

25. Let's not strip the word "torture" of any meaning it might ever have had. nt

[KoKo]

29. You think I went "too far" in my Analogy? What if you lost loved one in 9/11 or lived through it?

To see a NEW PRESIDENT OF HOPE and CHANGE Elected...and you go to work and early in the morning you see a Big Plane followed by Military Attack Fighters stalking it..and it's Buzzing your Workplace and you think...OMG...(didn't Cheney Say..."WE ARE NOT SAFE!"...and is this just going to happen ALL OVER AGAIN?
Am I THE NEXT ONE?

:-(

[Occam Bandage]

35. Not all things that are momentarily frightening are torture.

ZOMG I LOST MY CAR KEYS! NOW I MIGHT NOT GET TO WORK ON TIME!!! THIS IS JUST LIKE IF SOMEONE WAS SLOWLY SLICING THE SKIN OFF MY PENIS USING A FRUIT PEELER!!!!!!

[KoKo]

36. If you lived in NY during "9/11" and saw what might be a repeat?

and that it was considered just a "training exercise/photo op" by someone in your new President's Administration you wouldn't find it insensitive...akin to torturing with the memories of that day ingrained in mind and two wars? What could be the symbolism?

[Beam Me Up]

31. "Torture" seems a stretch BUT for people traumatized by 9/11 and living

with PTSD as a result and the FEAR ingrained in all of us by the Bush Cabal since -- I'm sure it was terrifying. Brought it ALL back again.

UGG. What a stupid, stupid, move.

[Flying Dream Blues]

33. Traumatizing for many, for sure. nt