Professor calls attack act of war
Attacking the Pentagon and World Trade Center was an act of war, said Robert Wendzel, a visiting professor in the political science department at Utah State University.
“This is not a big surprise. People for years have said our country is vulnerable,” Wendzel said.
The attacks were well coordinated and executed, Wendzel said. It is a coincidence, he said, that before the embassy and the USS Cole bombings in the past few years there were tapes circulating warning of an attack. Wendzel said a similar tape began circulating three weeks ago. William Furlong, a foreign policy professor at USU, said the attacks could have been a single organization or several groups working together.
“A couple dozen people could do it, a small group of nuts,” Furlong said. “It only takes a few people committed to a cause.”
Wendzel said, although Osama Bin Laden is the number-one suspect, the United States does not know who is responsible for the attack.
“It is easier to point fingers than solve problems,” Wendzel said.
Furlong said militant groups are also organized to execute such acts.
Wendzel said the targets were economic and military based, but anti-American in general.
Nathan Sheets, an employee at the Federal Reserve Board – located across the street from the State Department in Washington, D.C. – said most government buildings in the district were evacuated by 10 a.m. Everyone else was evacuated after the Pentagon was hit around 11 a.m., Sheets said. While leaving the Federal Reserve building, the general mood was astonishment, he said.
“The main thing I saw was traffic in knots. It blows my mind they were able to hijack four flights and crash them into buildings,” Sheets said. “It is surreal, like living in a Tom Clancy novel.”
The feeling outside of the district was very different, Sheets said.
“In the district, we were a part of it. There is a much different feeling in Rockville,” Sheets said. Rockville, Md., is a suburb outside of Washington, D.C.
The father of three children, Sheets said it bothers him to expose his kids to these events. It is difficult to explain to a 6-year-old why the flags are at half mast.
“My daughter Sarah began playing as a radio announcer and talking about planes crashing into buildings,” Sheets said. “How do you explain what happened to her?”
Most bothersome, Sheets said, was what happened today can happen anywhere.
“You get the feeling they wanted to do more. We go to bed at night feeling a lot less safe,” Sheets said.
Wendzel said, “They are trying to create a feeling of instability and fear. Odds are, it is done at this stage.”
There are several different points to investigate, and the United States will investigate all of them, Wendzel said.
“This time, contrary to the past, we will put some press on. Some action will be taken,” Wendzel said.