Guest et al,

I have just looked up an article from the Washington Post Style section that was printed on Oct 28. (They want to charge me $2.95 to get the text though, so I'll just recap it for you.)

I wanted to use it to make a point about bureaucratic inaction. The article is titled "A Tower of Courage: On September 11, Rick Rescorla Died as He Lived: Like a Hero"

Rescorla, a native of Cornwall and a Vietnam vet, was vice president for corporate security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. in the south tower. He hated bureaucratic inaction.

Several years earlier, he analysed the WTC in terms of security risks, and told them the basement was not properly secured. He was furious when no action was taken, and eventually there was a truck bomb detonated down there. After that, the bureaucrats implemented his security recommendations.

No conspiracy. Just a lack of guts and foresight.

So, when the north tower was hit, and the bureaucrats at the Port Authority said everybody should stay put, Rescorla said a few obscenities and started getting his people out. He got 2700 of his own people, and heaven only knows how many others, out of that building before it collapsed. He had a clear evacuation plan and had drilled the entire company in how to evacuate their offices.

The point is, there are people who are too shortsighted and too timid to make contingency plans or take action. Lots of them. People who can't recognize a clear and present danger.

The contrast between Rescorla's actions and those of the bureaucrats in charge just helps make my point.

I think that's got a lot to do with why this-or-that action was not taken on and before Sept 11.

Rita