NP & "Imagination"

The commission also spoke of a “failure of imagination.”Maybe so again; and yet the word “failure”seems inappropriate, implying as it does that success was possible. Surely a failure so widespread deserves to be considered inevitable.
(p. 19)

FALSE:

Ms. Rice confirmed in 2002 that information picked up by U.S. intelligence services indicated that an attack might be made on Mr. Bush and other leaders at the July 2001 Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy. Former White House officials confirmed that in response to the warning, Italian authorities closed the local airport, restricted airspace and positioned surface-to-air missiles around the city. WSJ, 4/1/04

“FBI investigators visited two of the flight schools in 1996 after the plot was uncovered in the Philippines, school operators said. In 1998 and 1999, analysts warned federal officials that terrorists might crash hijacked aircraft into landmarks such as the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Then, last July, the Italian government closed airspace over Genoa and mounted antiaircraft batteries based on information that Islamic extremists were planning to use an airplane to kill President Bush.

According to Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, in remarks reported by the Italian news agency ANSA, Italy told the Americans "that there was the possibility of an attack against the U.S. president using an airliner. That's why we closed the airspace and installed the [antiaircraft] missiles" around the meeting site.
Because of the threat from jetliners, it has been standard operating procedure since the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 to create "no- fly zones" for high-profile occasions designated "National Security Special Events." Others included the 50th anniversary summits of NATO and the United Nations. The no-fly zones are areas of restricted airspace defended by fighter jets and antiaircraft batteries”
Clues Pointed to Changing Terrorist Tactics; Foiled Plots, FBI Data Showed Al Qaeda Groups Might Use Airplanes as Missiles
Steve Fainaru. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: May 19, 2002. pg. A.09