- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With
the anniversary approaching of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, the U.S.
military has resumed 24-hour air patrols by fighter jets over Washington
and New York, U.S. officials said on Friday.
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- The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters
that the patrols -- designed to prevent hijack attacks like the ones that
destroyed New York's World Trade Center and heavily damaged the Pentagon
resumed on Thursday.
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- "With members of Congress flying to New York, and
the anniversary approaching, it was decided that the patrols should resume"
indefinitely, one of the officials told Reuters.
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- The U.S. Congress met in New York on Friday for the first
time in more than 200 years to mark next week's anniversary of the Sept.
11 attacks that killed about 3,000 people.
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- Pentagon officials refused to confirm or deny whether
or not the patrol flights had been resumed. Spokesman Glenn Flood said,
"All I can say is that we have adequate patrols."
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- The officials refused to comment on a CBS News report
that the air patrols were resumed due to increased Internet "chatter"
or communications among known operatives of al Qaeda, the militant network
the United States blames for the attacks.
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- The patrols involving F-16 fighters and other jets flown
by both Air National Guard pilots and regular Air Force personnel, will
fly regular missions over the two cities around the clock, as they began
doing after the attacks.
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- The pilots could be used, with tight restrictions, to
shoot down a commercial airliner if it appeared to be headed for a sensitive
ground target, according to officials.
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- In March, patrols were reduced over New York City and
later over Washington to a mix of regular flights and "strip alerts"
involving planes standing by at military and civilian airports to be scrambled
into the air on very short notice.
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- Patrols have, meanwhile, also been continued on an intermittent
basis over other key areas of the country, including other possible targets
such as nuclear plants.
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- Before the patrols were reduced earlier in the year,
they had tied up more than 200 fighter jets and 10,000 Air Force personnel
at 30 bases across the country. Air Force officials said they had caused
wear on equipment and stress on personnel, costing more than $502 million
between last September and January alone.
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