"Were these tragedies simply the result of unprecedented failures and incompetence as the government maintains, or were there elements of foreknowledge and implicit welcome involved?"
very much stated, and restated, as to pearl harbor, by the right, left and others...did FDR and his crew set it up? know about it before, and let it happen? ....
and the answer seems clear, as in the present case, that "they" knew something would happen and that "they" would use it to go into action...but supposing that the bushites played a role in the planning and execution of 911 is akin to assuming that the roosevelties knew about pearl harbor and allowed it to happen...in both cases, killing thousands, when all they needed, and probably expected, was a little gulf-of-tonkin kind of episode which could be re-arranged into an assault on freedom loving consumers and lead us into what we did then and have done now...declared war...
there really is a giant leap from "elements of knowledge", which covers a pretty broad spectrum, to bombs planted in buildings, special training of pilots, special orders given or not given to interceptor pilots, etc...
and i always wonder at what the friggin air force would have done if it shot down all three or four commercial airliners, killed everyone on board, and caused them to blow up over washington, new york and wherever, raining damage and death on...how many?...and what would some of us be calling for after that? an investigation of a conspiracy to kill innocent americans?
just wondering, and still curious, though certainly not accepting the collusion suppositions that must be at the root of some of these plots, and the incredible number of people who'd have to be involved in such conspiring, and keep their mouths shut...yeah, right...like, not one digital photo of...oh well...
fs
ps: lenin knew about "pearl harbor" 24 years before it happened, though he wasn't specific...