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משמר החופים החליט "החלטה טיפשית" לערוך אימון ב-11 בספטמבר
בהלה פרצה באזור נהר פוטומק, בעקבות דיווח על ירי שנשמע, אבל מתברר שזה היה תרגיל של משמר החופים.
חדשות פוקס, שישי - 11 בספטמבר, 2009.
משמר החופים הסביר כי ערך תרגיל ביום שישי בנהר פוטומק שעורר בהלה ובילבול, רגעים לפני שהנשיא אובמה ושיירתו חצו גשר בקרבת מקום, בדרכם לפנטגון, על-מנת לציין את יום השנה השמיני למתקפת הטרור ב-11 בספטמבר.
מפקד משמר החופים, קית' מור, אמר כי למרות דיווחים סותרים מוקדם יותר היום, לא נורו יריות כחלק מהתרגיל.
דובר משמר החופים ג'ון אדווארדס אמר כי ככל הנראה נקלט קטע מרשת הקשר של משמר החופים בו דיברו על יריות.
כחלק מהתרגיל ביום שישי, משמר החופים הורה למשתתפים בתרגיל לירות 10 צרורות, אבל בפועל לא נורו יריות, ולא היו סירות חשודות.
בהודעה של משמר החופים נמסר שהם מבררים כיצד התרגיל נחשד בטעות כאירוע אמת, וכי הם יערכו בדיקה יסודית בנושא.
"הדרך הטובה ביותר בה נוכל במשמר החופים לזכור את ה-11 בספטמבר ואת חובתנו להגן על ארה"ב היא להיות תמיד מוכנים, ולצורך העניין יש לערוך אימונים. כדי להבטיח מוכנות אנו עורכים תרגילים ברחבי ארה"ב, באופן יום יומי". כך לפי ההודעה.
לקריאה נוספת: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/200...-potomac-river/
Coast Guard Makes 'Dumb Decision' to Conduct Training as Nation Marks 9/11
Confusion reigned on the Potomac River following reports of shots being fired. But it turned out the Coast Guard was conducting a training exercise.
The Coast Guard refused to apologize for a training exercise it conducted Friday in the Potomac River that sparked panic and confusion moments before as President Obama and his motorcade crossed a nearby bridge on its way to the Pentagon to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"It's unfortunate it escalated to this level," Coast Guard Chief of Staff John Currier said at a news conference. "What you're seeing is the result of a normal training exercise such that when we have a threat or when we have a security issue in the national capital region, all agencies can come together under secure communications protocol and execute security operations very professionally and successfully."
Earlier Friday, confusion reigned on the Potomac following CNN reports of the Coast Guard firing 10 rounds at a suspicious boat and showed vessels circling in the water. Obama had traveled to the Pentagon to lay a wreath in a ceremony commemorating the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
But Coast Guard Chief Keith Moore said despite earlier reports, no shots were fired as part of the exercise.
The president was not in the area when the training exercise took place, Currier said. He explained that as part of its exercise, the Coast Guard aired simulated instructions to participants to fire 10 rounds and someone said "bang, bang, bang" to simulate compliance. But he said there were no shots actually fired and there were no suspicious boats.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs derided CNN, which was the first media outlet to erroneously report shots were fired.
"The Coast Guard is having a presser. Hopefully CNN will go," Gibbs said, who suggested CNN and other media outlets that got the initial reports wrong should have made calls first.
"Based on an erroneous report that didn't know if shots had been fired, I think everybody is, everybody is apologetic of that," he said.
Gibbs also said CNN has heard from the White House over the incident.
More than an hour after its first reports, CNN anchor Kyra Phillips said on the air that CNN's initial report stemmed from someone saying "bang, bang, bang" over a radio frequency monitored by the network's police scanner.
"We did call the Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard said, 'We don't know what you're talking about,"' she said. CNN went ahead with the story based on a reporter's other sources, Phillips said.
"We're still trying to hammer this out, but we did what we were supposed to do, according to our folks in Washington," Phillips said.
CNN spokeswoman Edie Emergy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A group for military families expressed outrage that the Coast Guard exercise was held near the Pentagon at the same time families of those who died during the Sept. 11 attacks had gathered there for a memorial.
"September 11th is a day to remember the loss of 2,973 innocent victims in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon; not a day to create an unnecessary panic near a terrorist's target," Military Families United said in a statement.
The Coast Guard said in a statement it was gathering information on how the training event "might have been misconstrued as an actual incident. We will conduct a thorough review of this incident."
"The best way that we in the Coast Guard can remember Sept. 11 and our security obligations to the nation is to be always ready and this requires constant training and exercise," the statement read. "To ensure the appropriate readiness posture we conduct training scenarios across the nation on a daily basis."
Lawmakers expressed concern about the timing of the exercise.
"The anxiety caused by this situation on such a solemn day is extremely disturbing," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, in a written statement. "I look forward to hearing from Secretary Napolitano about the decision-making process leading up to today's events. It sounds very much like the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing."
The incident was reminiscent of a controversial flyover by a presidential jet over the Manhattan skyline in April for a photo-op that sparked memories of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, panicked New Yorkers and led to the firing of Louis Caldera, the head of White House Military Office.
The Department of Homeland Security was created in response to the 9/11 attacks. The Coast Guard and the Secret Service were placed within the department. The massive reorganization was designed to promote sharing of information within the department and among other law enforcement agencies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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יהיה משהו, כי יש משהו
נערך לאחרונה ע"י sheep בתאריך 11-09-2009 בשעה 19:57.
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11-09-2009, 19:54
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