It is September 10th, 2001, and...

[USS Triumphant]

...you have found your present day mind transported back into your body on that day. Assuming that you would try to stop the attacks of the following day (a choice that is a whole other topic in and of itself), how would you do it without ending up under suspicion of being involved in the plot, yourself?

The event in question doesn't have to be 9/11 - you can substitute any other major catastrophe you wish and place yourself the day before. I suspect, though, that this would actually mostly get easier the further back in time one went.

 

[Rii]

...you have found your present day mind transported back into your body on that day. Assuming that you would try to stop the attacks of the following day (a choice that is a whole other topic in and of itself), how would you do it without ending up under suspicion of being involved in the plot, yourself?

I wouldn't bother trying to remain free of suspicion; the stakes are too high. You're not going to be tortured or locked up indefinitely for 'suspicion'. At least, not until 9/11.

EDIT: Even If I knew beyond doubt that I would be imprisoned for life or executed on the basis of the information provided, I like to think I'd still speak up. Of course one never can tell about such things until one is tested.

Credibility would be a larger issue, I think. I doubt that shouting very loudly into the telephone gets one as far in real life as Hollywood would have us believe.

 

[Jetfire]

I was in a car accident the morning of 9/11...the 10th it was pitchers of Ice house & strippers...no joke...I would be too f*cked up to do anything...and would't change it...what if more people died do to my efforts!?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

You need to know the secret password to use -- CONUNDRUM.

 

[Lindley]

It's an interesting question. It's rather hard to give information in a way which is truly anonymous these days.

What you want to communicate is that you have heard there will be four hijack attempts on transcontinental flights tomorrow. Don't give them more information---let them work out the details.

It might also be worthwhile to call in a warning to the WTC and Pentagon the next morning. They'd probably interpret that as a threat though.

 

[scotpens]

I've seen enough sci-fi movies and television to know that anyone with foreknowledge of a calamity who tries to warn people in advance will either A) be dismissed as a lunatic, or B) only succeed in causing, rather than preventing, said calamity.

The event in question doesn't have to be 9/11 - you can substitute any other major catastrophe you wish and place yourself the day before. I suspect, though, that this would actually mostly get easier the further back in time one went.

And what makes you think you'd have more credibility with the Washington, D.C. authorities in 1865 if you tried to warn them of the plot to assassinate Lincoln? Or with the citizens of Pompeii in 79 A.D. if you told them Mount Vesuvius was about to erupt and bury everything in volcanic ash?

 

[Rii]

A more interesting (that is to say, difficult) question for me is whether I'd convey information leading to the assassination of George W. Bush post-9/11, preventing the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The easy answer, of course, is that the premise is flawed, but when one is discussing time travel the objection seems academic.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

...you have found your present day mind transported back into your body on that day. Assuming that you would try to stop the attacks of the following day (a choice that is a whole other topic in and of itself), how would you do it without ending up under suspicion of being involved in the plot, yourself?

The event in question doesn't have to be 9/11 - you can substitute any other major catastrophe you wish and place yourself the day before. I suspect, though, that this would actually mostly get easier the further back in time one went.

You'd be messing up the timeline and that's bad! If you travel back to time, you should try your best not to change history, and instead just observe!

But seriously, I would try to buy a ticket for one of the planes, try to sneak a weapon, and then try to stop the hijackers. I would inform the other passengers what the hijackers are attempting to do. I would also probably bribe someone to do the same on the other planes. That is if I have money.

I'll consider leaving an anonymous signal through different means about what's going to happen, however I fear that this might alert the terrorists and only delay the event. I also doubt that I can cause anyone to act on it that way. I might call the passengers and alert them to act.

However, that's a bad idea, since if I manage to stop the attacks, no one will take what could have happened seriously, and there would be no special measures taken to stop similar attacks, so the attacks would just be postponed. Which is one of the reasons why I would try not to interfere with historical events.

And after watching "City on the Edge of Forever" I hope I never have to make such decisions in my life. I prefer to do what I find the best not knowing what will happen.

Stopping one of the planes that went into the towers, however, would be a good thing. I think I can manage to do it myself.

 

[captcalhoun]

phone in a bomb threat to the airport on the morning.

get the airport shut down, national guard, feds, whatever called in. scuper the terrorits.

i do the same on July 6th and March 2nd as well to the London Underground and Madrid railways.

 

[Lindley]

i do the same on July 6th and March 2nd as well to the London Underground and Madrid railways.

Not so fast----once you start changing things, you can't be sure those will happen at the same time anymore (if at all).

 

[TrickyDickie]

Jack Finney, in his novel 'From Time To Time,' which was a sequel to his 'Time And Again' had a character attempt to prevent the sinking of the Titanic by forcing an alteration of course. The alteration caused the ship to hit the iceberg, when it originally would not have done so.

Neat little twist that illustrates a point: You never know in such a scenario if what you attempt, with the best intentions in mind, will only make matters even worse.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Alert the captains of all four airliners, and give them the names of all the hijackers.

The important thing is to NOT alert the hijackers before they get on the planes. Then they might try something else, if you do that. Make sure the flight crews can stop them, though. Then have the US government broadcast a general message to all the Taliban etc. - "We know what you're planning, before you yourselves know it. We stopped you today, which is proof of that. Every attack you will ever try to carry out, we will know about it, because we know your plans. So you might as well give up."

 

[CorporalClegg]

And who's to say that, had the hijackers been thwarted, AQ wouldn't have tried something worse later? Perhaps even nuclear?

 

[BrotherBenny]

You need to know the secret password to use -- CONUNDRUM.

I see someone at least watched Seven Days.

 

[SVD]

Stopping one of the planes that went into the towers, however, would be a good thing. I think I can manage to do it myself.

You take American 11, I'll take United 175 and game on!

'Course, that would depend on if a freshman in high school (what I physically would be) on the other side of the country would be able to secure transport to Boston from 100 miles north of SMF on a school day.

phone in a bomb threat to the airport on the morning.

get the airport shut down, national guard, feds, whatever called in. scuper the terrorits.

That would postpone it, anyway.

 

[greenguy]

Oh, so we're all gonna go ahead and follow Janeway's example?

 

[Maestro]

That really depends, there Doctor Who fans. Is 9/11/01 a fixed point in time? Must it always occur? Or is it one that can be changed?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And who's to say that, had the hijackers been thwarted, AQ wouldn't have tried something worse later? Perhaps even nuclear?

That's the thing: You take the time-travel inherent in this situation and use it to your advantage. You come right out and TELL Al Qaeda that you are a time traveller and that you know everything they will ever do, ever.

If AQ thinks that you have regular access to time travel, then you will always know the future. (So they will think, anyway. There's no reason they have to know that this is a one-time trip.) And if AQ does think that you will always know the future, they will never try anything, ever again, because logically they will think you will know their plans before they do.

 

[Samurai8472]

i do the same on July 6th and March 2nd as well to the London Underground and Madrid railways.

Not so fast----once you start changing things, you can't be sure those will happen at the same time anymore (if at all).

Exactly the chain effect

Once people get wind that the officials are on high alert they'll shift their plans for another date.

 

[gturner]

Nobody can stop 9/11, but they might be able to stop some crazy, unknown outcome of the mosque next to Ground Zero. Just today we find out there are thirteen or so hours of audio tapes of Imam Rauf who is building it. In them he defends Saudi Wahhabism, calls for the destruction of Israel, and defends Osama Bin Laden.

We might as well condone the World Church of the Creator building a temple and outreach center (complete with shooting range) next to the Holocaust Museum in DC, build an Air Force Airpower museum two blocks from ground zero in Nagasaki, or erect massive multi-million dollar cathedrals in Tikrit, Baghdad, Kabul, and Kandahar.