The Man Who Predicted 9/11

Last night, on the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America, the History Channel ran a one-hour documentary on Rick Rescorla, the head of security for Morgan Stanley bank in the World Trade Center. A couple of years ago I read a book about him and Daniel Day Hill - Heart of a Soldier by James B Stewart. The two men were former mercenaries who joined the U.S. Army during the VietNam war. If you saw the movie, "We Were Soldiers" starring Mel Gibson, these two men were officers in the company pinned down by the Vietnamese at Ia Drang (although they weren't mentioned by name in the movie so the producers wouldn't have to pay them royalties).

Rick Rescorla was referred to by some in the VietNam war as the best recon officer in the military. He learned much of his craft while a mercenary in Northern Rhodesia and Cyprus. Following the war he went to work in New York at the WTC and was there during the attempted bombing by bin Laden years before 9/11/2001. Following that attack, Rescorla began to petition the city and Port Authority to adopt tighter security precautions. His friend, Daniel Hill, a security consultant for the government by this time, told Rescorla that it was almost impossible to defend the WTC from attacks from the air. Because of the congestion around the Manhattan area, our Air Force could not fire on an unidentified aircraft that close to habitation. Escape, rather than prevention was the only realistic response to such an attack. Rick had Daniel help him draw up a plan to keep safe the people under his protection.

For the most part, Rick's pleas fell on deaf ears, so he took it upon himself to create an emergency evacuation plan for Morgan Stanley. Employees were drilled over and over on how to quickly exit the buildings and where to go should an emergency occur. Many thought Rick was nuts and overly cautious.

When the planes hit in 2001, Rick's evacuation plan was put into action for real. Despite the police and Port Authority telling people to remain where they were until help arrived, Rick made sure his people got out of the building, saving almost 3,000 lives. Then he went back inside to help people who weren't his responsibility. The last he was seen, he was on the 10th floor going stairwell to stairwell making sure peole were leaving. A few minutes later the South Tower crashed in around him. His body was never found. Rick was 62.

Rick Rescorla led an amazing and exciting life, and he died doing what he spent most of that life doing: protecting others. Most of us lead unextraordinary lives, Rick lived an exceptional life and left behind a legacy. If you didn't get a chance to see the special, there is supposed to be an encore presentation on Sunday night. The DVD is available at the www.history.com store for $24.95 or from Amazon for $29.95. Never forget our heroes.

3 comments:

Jimmy said...

The book is one of the best reads you will ever have.

Anonymous said...

i appreciate this guys bravery and all he did but i do not believe that he actually predicted 9 11. after the bombing in 1993 anyone would have guessed that terrorists would attack again. he never actually said that the attack was going to be on exactly 9 11 so technically he didnt predict it.

Larry McGarr said...

No, he didn't predict the date, but Rick Rescorla did predict the method terrorists would use to bring down the towers. He did approach the Port Authority to warn them of the liklihood of such an attack. And he trained the employees how to evacuate the building when it did happen.

9/11 is more than just the date that America was attacked by terrorists. It's not when it happened, it's that it happened just as predicted. One doesn't need to be psychic to see the signs and to take precautions. I think we're definitely seeing signs of the demise of our Republic. Let's just hope there are some Rick Rescorla's out there who can tell us how to escape the direction our nation seems hell-bent towards. We need some heroes.