Hijacking Drill
The story...
"Oct. 24-26, 2000 - Pentagon officials carry out a "detailed" emergency drill based upon the crashing of a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon. [Source: The Mirror, May 24, 2002]"
"Oh Lucy! - You Gotta Lotta 'Splain' To Do"
What more proof does anyone need to show that the US Government had advance knowledge of 9/11?
Our take...
Taken literally, that quote does seem damning, but as usual things aren't quite as they seem.
This wasn't some major exercise on the ground, for instance; Note that the quote refers to "Pentagon officials" only. The entire drill took place in a few rooms at the Pentagon, where the attendees effectively played games designed to try out different scenarios.
There was a plane crash scenario included, but it was only a crash, not a hijacking, so doesn't display quite as much foreknowledge as we're being told. Further, that scenario was just one of several, which included "a mock terrorist incident at the Pentagon Metro stop and a construction accident".
So
this appears nothing more than the type of contingency planning that's carried out everywhere, and as the Pentagon is right next to a major airport, it’s hardly a surprising choice of scenario. A November 2000 report provides more details.
"The fire and smoke from the downed passenger aircraft billows from the Pentagon courtyard.
Defense Protective Services Police seal the crash sight. Army medics, nurses and doctors scramble to organize aid. An Arlington Fire Department chief dispatches his equipment to the affected areas.
Don Abbott, of Command Emergency Response Training, walks over to the Pentagon and extinguishes the flames. The Pentagon was a model and the "plane crash" was a simulated one.
The Pentagon Mass Casualty Exercise, as the crash was called, was just one of several scenarios that emergency response teams were exposed to Oct. 24-26 in the Office of the Secretaries of Defense conference room.
On Oct. 24, there was a mock terrorist incident at the Pentagon Metro stop and a construction accident to name just some of the scenarios that were practiced to better prepare local agencies for real incidents.
To conduct the exercise, emergency personnel hold radios that are used to rush help to the proper places, while toy trucks representing rescue equipment are pushed around the exercise table.
Cards are then passed out to the various players designating the number of casualties and where they should be sent in a given scenario..."
http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/5_44/local_news/2852-1.html
This hasn’t stopped people trying to make the most of the story, though.
The Pentagon conducted a training exercise called "MASCAL" simulating the crash of a Boeing 757 into the building on 24 October 2000, and yet Condoleezza Rice, among others, has repeatedly asserted that "no one ever imagined" a domestic airplane could be used as a weapon. How is this possible?
Scholars for 9/11 Truth; Why Doubt 9/11?
Here the Scholars for 911 Truth press release is written in such a way that it could leave the reader thinking the exercise simulated a plane being used as a weapon, yet without them saying that explicitly. Another good reason to question not only the facts and references presented in what you read, but any implied meanings, too.