Exactly seven years from yesterday (still today to some), early in the morning on September 11, 2001, nineteen hijackers took control of four commercial airliners en route to San Francisco and Los Angeles from Boston, Newark, and Washington, D.C. The hijackers flew two of the airliners, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. Another group of hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, whose ultimate target was either the United States Capitol or White House, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Today there was an odd ‘story’ on Sri Lankan television involving a few LIRNEasia staff. The segment opened with, inexplicably, a shot of a topless Ranil Wickremasinghe and 10 barechested men walking down a hall. It then cut to shots of him wearing (thankfully) suits, and getting out of limousines. The segment then listed millions of dollars spent on advisers and foreign consultants including: Rohan Samarajiva Lakshman Siriwardene Harsha de Silva I say ‘story’ in quotes because the piece concluded by saying this was in contrast to the ‘people friendly’ policies of the aptly named People’s Alliance – which sounds like a Sinclair Broadcasting version of news. It also makes no mention of the huge spending naturally inherent in a socialist leaning government, and the rising cost of living under the PA.