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Shortly after Rumie changed
the rules for fighter scrambles on rogue aircraft, in
July 2001, the FAA also rescinded a 40-year rule allowing
guns in cockpits.
8:52
Both F-15s are “wheels up” out of Otis.
[Guardian, 10/17/01, New York Times, 10/16/01]
Around this time, the FSC has learned that Major Don
Arias in Florida called his brother in WTC Tower 2,
telling him that the first plane was a hijacking and
that he should get out. No one in the air force advised
the Port authority to evacuate everyone from the building.
8:53
Another controller handling Flight 77 calls in, saying, "We
may have a hijack. We have some problems over here
right now." [Guardian, 10/17/01, New York Times,
10/16/01]
9:02
The first confirmation of trouble onboard Fl 77 is
an unauthorized course deviation. As Gen. Arnold
told the commission, “Then very shortly thereafter,
we got a call on the United 93 flight being a possible
hijacking. That aircraft wandered around and flew
up over the northern part of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Mixed
in with this was a call about a Delta flight that
was possibly hijacked.”
FLYING BLIND
12. Weren’t there other fighter planes available
- on the ground or already in the air – closer
to the hijacked airliners than Cape Cod?
Astonishingly, the general
in charge of US air defenses on Sept. 11 informed
the 911
Commission, “In
the Northeast, at this particular time, we had no
other aircraft available.”
In fact, in the most heavily armed nation on Earth,
at least two-dozen air force installations are within
fast flying time of the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Among the air bases that did not respond on Sept. 11
were
The 104 Fighter Wing in western Massachusetts.
The 174 Fighter Wing
in Syracuse, New York - directly in Flight 11’s
flight-path until it turned south.
The 103 and 118 Fighter Wings in Hartford, Connecticut
just 100 miles N/E of Manhattan.
Outside Philadelphia,
near the route of Flight 93, the mission statement
of the Willow
Grove Air Reserve
Station’s 111th Fighter wing is “to protect
the safety and security of the citizens and property
of the state of Pennsylvania.”
A “battle-ready” squadron of F-16’s
was also stationed with the 177 Fighter Wing out
of Atlantic City - less than half the distance
from New
York City compared to Otis AFB. [www.af.mil/sites/alphabetical.shtml#a]
13. Why weren’t
armed fighters on training flights or patrolling
Air Defense Intercept
Zones
just off
the Atlantic Coast that morning immediately diverted
to intercept the commandeered airliners?
Another good question
not pursued by the commission. What about the two
Air National
Guard F-16s already
airborne near Manhattan? Armed with practice bombs
for runs over New Jersey’s Pine Barrens near
Atlantic City, the intimidating interceptors from the
177th Fighter Wing could have been over the WTC in
less than three minutes. Even at cruising speed, the
unarmed jets could arrive in time to disrupt Flight
11 and Flight 175’s flight paths with close
passes - or even ramming the airliners before ejecting
over
the Hudson River or Long Island Sound.
Instead, the two Fighting
Falcons are not recalled to be refueled and rearmed
with
by air-to-air missiles
until the Pentagon is hit, more than an hour after
the Trade Center strikes. "Isn't that something?" commented
the 177th's public affairs officer, Lt. Luz Aponte.
[North Jersey Media Group]
Flight 175 impacts WTC
9:03
Word of Fl 175 impacting the South Tower of the World
Trade Center brings a shocked pause to the Operations
room. Every head turns to Gen. Marr. “Get to
the phones, call every National Guard unit in the land, “ Marr
orders. “Prepare to put jets in the air - the
nation is under attack”.
According to the FSC,
air bases at Syracuse, N.Y., Hartford, Conn., and
Atlantic City
bases had websites “boasting” prior
to 911 “that they were on high readiness status.”
But no jets are launched.
And none already in the air are diverted – despite
reported pleas from military pilots and base personnel
to be allowed
to intercept threats to their country.
9:10
United Airlines Flight 93 is hijacked after taking
off an hour earlier from Newark International Airport.
Delayed on the ground for 45 minutes, its late departure
throws Fl 93 out of sequence with the other attackers.
9:16
FAA notifies NORAD that United Airlines Flight 93 has
been hijacked. Amazingly, Gen. Weaver later says the
air force launched no planes to intercept this latest
threat. [Dallas Morning News Sept16/01]
But they did.
9:22
An earthquake monitor in southern Pennsylvania picks
up a sonic boom caused by a supersonic jet, 60 miles
from Shanksville. [Stand Down]
9:24
NORAD says it is informed by the FAA that American
Airlines flight 77 might be hijacked and appears
headed toward Washington. As JCS chief Gen. Eberhart
later
stated regarding Fl 77, “9:24 … that’s
the first notification that we received.“
Col. Alan Scott also
told the commission, “Yes,
Sir, that’s the first documented notification
that we received.”
But Ben-Veniste pounced
on this evasion, insisting, “I
want to focus on the word ‘documented’ because
it’s very important for us to know when NORAD
actually received notification given the fact that
the planes had already crashed into the World Trade
Center and given, I’m sure, the assumption
that these were terrorist acts and there could be
more coming,
more planes coming.”
In other words, if every
American watching network news knew what was happening,
why wasn’t NORAD
responding more vigorously?
Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold replied that NORAD was busy
asking a distant Syracuse, New York Air National Guard
Unit if they could get something in the air sometime
that day.
14. But all the hijacked planes vanished from radar,
right?
“
American flight 77 … I did not know and I don’t
believe anybody in our NORAD system knew where that
airplane was,” Arnold stated under oath.
But 21st century military air surveillance radars
do not require enemy aircraft to radio their positions
and intentions in order to see them. Radars capable
of spotting an object the size of a beach ball at
more
than a hundred miles can easily “skin paint” radar
echoes from planes as big as jumbo jets. [Scorched
Earth]
A Virginia-based company
called Flight Explorer offers Internet software capable
of tracking
all
commercial
and military airplanes over the USA. On Sept. 11,
Flight Explorer tracked flights 11, 175 and 77.
If Flight
Explorer had the planes’ speed, altitude and
precise direction, asks the FSC, why didn’t America’s
aerial defenders using a billion dollars worth of
radar equipment know where the planes were? ( LATimes
9/17/2001)
9:24
NORAD Defense sector “Huntress” orders
the 1st Fighter Wing from Langley Air Force Base in
Hampton, Virginia to scramble two or possibly three “ready
alert” F-16 fighters. Langley is 130 miles south
of Washington DC and the Pentagon. The F-16 “Fighting
Falcon” has a top speed of 1500 mph.
But they aren’t in a hurry. Commissioner John
Lehman later asked, “Did they also go into
burner?”
“No, Sir,” replied
Gen. Arnold. To avoid commercial airliners, the air
defence commander added,
the Langley F-16s were ordered to fly east over the
ocean before being vectored head north to Washington
DC. All of which takes more precious time away from
fighters that are not using afterburners to boost
their speed.
15. Did a jetliner really hit the Pentagon? without
every explaining what happened to Fl 77 and its
passengers, some people say it was hit by a missile.”
Flight
77 hit the Pentagon.
Official Pentagon crash debris photo
9:40
As hundreds of drivers caught in a traffic jam
on Pennsylvania Ave, watch in horror and
disbelief,
Flight 77 flies
into the side of the Pentagon’s lightly staffed,
newly renovated wing – sparing the entire Joint
Chiefs of Staff, who were meeting on the other side
of the world’s biggest building. As the Sept.
12 Washington Post pointed out, “Aviation sources
said that flight 77 was flown with extraordinary
skill.” Spiraling down from 7,000 feet in just
2½ minutes, the 757 executes turns so tight
it reminds observers of a jet fighter.
16. Wow. That’s some flying. What do we
know about these kamikaze pilots?
According to the Prince George’s Journal,
a month before the attack, alleged Pentagon plane
crasher
Hani
Hanjour was at the Maryland Freeway Airport trying
to rent a Cessna to sharpen his suicidal skills.
Chief flight instructor
Marcel Bernard said that Hanjour held an April 1999-issued
pilot’s license showing
hundreds of hours logged. But the hapless Hanjour repeatedly
flubbed his “check-ride” - a quick flight
around the pattern to make sure an unknown renter can
get the plane off and back on the runway without cracking
up. After three sessions in a sedate Cessna 172, the
white-knuckled instructor felt this Egyptian pilot
was too incompetent to fly solo.
It turns out that Hanjour also trained for a few months
in Scottsdale, Arizona back in 1996 - but washed out
when instructors there felt he was too incompetent
to fly.
Mohammed Atta, alleged
suicide pilot of flight 11 and Marwanal al-Shehhi,
alleged hijack
pilot of flight
175, supposedly struck the Twin towers while flying
at 500 feet per second. Where did they learn to do
this? According to the Washington Post, both pilots
took hundreds of hours of flying lessons at two Florida
flight schools: Huffman and Jones Aviation. This is
enough flight instruction to earn a commercial ticket
and an instrument rating. Yet, these flyboys couldn’t
find the ground with both hands.
Jones Aviation flying
instructor Ivan Chirivella told investigators that
Atta, 33 and al-Shehhi,
23 came
across from Huffman Aviation hoping to improve their
sloppy skills. Chirivella flew with Atta and al-Shehhi
four hours almost every morning from Sept. to October
2000. It didn’t work out. According to the New
York Times, Atta never looked at his instructor. His
attention span was zero. Al-Shehhi fared no better. “After
some harsh words,” both fledgling militants moved
on.
Alleged suicide pilots
Nawaq al-Hazmi and Khaid al-Mihdhar briefly attended
a San Diego
fight school the previous
spring, where they also washed out because of their
limited English and incompetence at the controls. After
just two flying lessons, their shaken instructors said “no
more,” and advised al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar to
quit. “Their English was horrible, and their
mechanical skills were even worse,” one instructor
told the Washington Post. “It was like they had
hardly even ever driven a car.” [All Fall Down]
17. What happened to the Langley F-16s?
Nearly half-an-hour after takeoff, Langley’s
clipped Falcons coast in over the burning Pentagon.
It has taken the 1,500 mph-capable fighters 12 minutes
to cover the 130 miles from Virginia. It should have
taken just over seven minutes - which would have put
them overhead about the time Flight 77 was making its
predatory circle. [NORAD Sept18/01; USAF]
Nearly wiping tears
from his eyes, Gen. McKinley told the commission
that as he evacuated
the Pentagon that
morning,” it was a very heartening sight to see
United States Air Force fighters overhead the Pentagon. “
18. But where were the
two armed fighters standing 15=minute “strip alert” around the clock
at Andrews Air Force Base, just 10 miles away? Before
being taken down and censored on Sept. 12, 2001, didn’t
the official Andrews website boast of two 113th Fighter
Wing squadrons – one Marine, the other Air Force – standing
round-the-clock guard against airborne terrorist attacks?
Correct. NORAD has never
explained why the same Andrews interceptors that
were routinely
scrambled against
bogeys violating the capitol’s “No Fly” zones
were held on the ground until after the target they
could have easily defended – the nearby Pentagon
- was struck. [San Diego Union-Tribune Sept12/01]
“The Andrews airplanes,” mused Maj. Gen.
Arnold when the 911 Commission popped the big question.
Arnold’s alibi was that eventually the Secret
Service – not NORAD – got around to giving
them a call.
“The Secret Service worked with the 113th because…Air
Force One, is located out at Andrews Air Force Base,” Gen.
Arnold stated. “So they had personal knowledge
of those, of the people out there and the telephone
number. In the urgency to get something done, they
made a phone call to the 113th, and asked them to get
anything they could airborne. And I think the quote
was: ’To protect the House.’”
Maj. Gen. Craig McKinley
helpfully added that out at Andrews, apparently the
wing commander “had
some airplanes returning from the range on the training
mission.”
He also had two armed fighters sitting on strip alert,
ready for immediate launch!
Richard Ben-Veniste
then asked, “What
would be the flight time from Andrews Air Force Base
of two
F-16s to the Pentagon?
The correct answer is
less than two minutes. But Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold
threw a curve,
asking instead: “From
the time they were notified?”
Ben-Veniste: “Yes.”
“Probably 15 to 20 minutes because it takes
about 10 minutes to get airborne. And they are not
set up on alert for scramble,” Arnold lied. “In
fact, it could have taken – they didn’t
have any airplanes immediately ready to go; it could
have taken them 20 or 30 minutes.”
But Ben-Veniste wasn’t happy with this. “If
the order had been given to Andrews even simultaneously
with the order that you gave to scramble your planes,
is it not fair to say that those planes would have
reached the Pentagon sooner?
Apparently unaware of
the Andrews website listing the air-to-air weapons “load out” for their
anti-terrorist interceptors, the recently retired head
of America’s east coast air defenses on Sept.
11 spoke again under oath, saying: “They might
have, but they would have been unarmed.”
19. Was Flight 93 shot down?
Yes.
20. Who gave the order?
Gen. Arnold told the commission that, on Sept. 11,
only the President had the authority to order a shoot
down of a commercial aircraft.
But Commissioner Tim
Roemer reminded the general about “Secretary
Mineta arriving at the White House at about 9:20 and
then overhearing a conversation at about 9:24 or 9:25
between the Vice President and a young aide, where
he inferred that there was already an order in place
for a shoot down. And he assumed it was for American
Airlines 77.
“I was never aware of any order given to shoot
down American Airlines 77,” insisted the man
in charge of intercepting the attackers.
“So nothing was ever conveyed to you by the
White House or by the FAA Administrator or by the Secretary
of Transportation on Flight 77?” Roemer pressed.
“That’s correct,” Gen.
Arnold affirmed.
But that’s not
what happened.
9:55
Cheney reaches Air Force One, which has leisurely launched
out of Sarasota, Florida without a fighter escort
after America’s Commander In Chief responded
to word of the crisis by continuing to read a story
of a pet goat. Reading is important, Bush later explained.
The aptly named vice-president
recommends that Bush authorize the military to shoot
down the
rogue airliners. “You
bet,” Bush replies. [All Fall Down]
Moments later a military
aide approaches the vice president. “There
is a plane 80 miles out. There is a fighter in the
area. Should we engage?”
Cheney replies instantly, “Yes.”
Asked twice more, Cheney confirms the shoot down order
two more times.
[Stand Down]
21. Was the order carried out?
The air force says no. But the evidence says an air-to-air
missile brought down Flight 93.
9:58
Over Pennsylvania, aircraft in the area observe the
big jetliner wobbling, perhaps as the hijackers fight
with passengers in the cabin. The cockpit voice recorder
indicates that the heroic passengers were not able
to breach the cockpit, as a flight controller manning
a radar scope in New Hampshire watches a pursuing
F-16 from the 180th Fighter Wing out of Toledo, Ohio
line up to take the shot. [Stand Down]
“An F-16 fighter closely pursued United Airlines
Flight 93,” he explained. “The F-16 made
360-degree turns to remain close to the commercial
jet. He must’ve seen the whole thing.” [Telegraph
Sept13/01]
Onboard the doomed airliner,
a desperate male passenger locks himself inside one
of the toilets
and dials 911.
Speaking for only a minute, the passenger screams, “We’re
being hijacked, we’re being hijacked!” Just
before contact is broken, he hears an explosion and
sees white smoke coming from the plane – indicative
of a heat-seeking air-to-air missile striking one of
the plane’s two engines. “We’re going
down!” he shouts. [All Fall Down]
The last sound heard on the cockpit recorder is wind
noise, indicating that the fuselage has been holed.
Trailing debris across Indian Lake and the adjacent
countryside, the big jetliner rolls onto its back and
augers straight in. [WorldNetDaily.com Jan25/03]
One partially destroyed
engine is found eight miles from the main crash site.
When asked
to explain how
a one-ton engine ended up so far from the central crash
crater, an FBI agent explains, “The wind blew
it there.” [Stand Down]
22. The government’s story is starting to sound
very windy. Since wayward aircraft were being routinely
intercepted every few days over the USA, once the FAA
and NORAD realized that they had four hijacked airliners
on their hands, it’s incomprehensible that only
one airliner was intercepted after wandering around
out of radio contact for over an hour. And the air
force doesn’t even admit to that.
Indeed. At least one
former Pentagon air traffic controller is still angry. “All those years ago when I was
at the Pentagon, this wouldn’t have happened,” he
wrote a 911 investigator. “ATC Radar images were
- and are - available in the understructures of the
Pentagon, and any commercial flight within 300 miles
of Washington DC that made an abrupt course change
toward Washington DC, or turned off their transponder
and refused to communicate with ATC, would have been
intercepted at supersonic speeds within minutes by
fighters out of Andrews AFB. Why there were no fighters
from Andrews up baffles me. If we could get fighters
notified, scrambled, and airborne within about six-
minutes from Andrews AFB then, we could now.” [Stand
Down]
23. After being deliberately kept out a White House-centered
intelligence loop monitoring the Japanese fleet’s
approach, the navy and army commanders at Pearl Harbor
were court-martialed after the 1941 “surprise” attack.
What was the fat5e Gen. Myers after he failed to
respond to America’s “Second Pearl Harbor”?
Gen. Myers subsequently
told a senate hearing that he hadn’t let a TV report about a small plane
hitting New York City’s tallest skyscraper interrupt
his routine. Asked repeatedly when the brass were first
informed of the emergency - and when interceptors were
scrambled - Myers repeated his mantra six times, saying ““I'll
have to get back to you on that.” [www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2001/n10232001_200110236.html
]
Instead of being court-martialed,
or even reprimanded, General Myers was awarded command
of the entire U.S.
military as new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
At a public ceremony, Bush commended the air force
general for his “calm manner, sound judgment,
and his clear strategic thinking.” [White House
press release Oct15/01]
24. What now?
Throw the bums out.
# # #
Specializing in US military
affairs, award-winning investigative reporter William
Thomas
is a former pilot,
who joined the US Navy reserves before resigning his
commission over civilian atrocities during the Vietnam
War. He is the author of All Fall Down: The Politics
of Terror and Mass Persuasion - one of the most thoroughly
documented books published on Sept. 11, His recently
released audio book, “Stand Down” contains
some of the audio clips mentioned in this article -
and more.
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Get Stand Down | www.willthomas.net
911 Stand Down articles
Exposing NORAD's Wag The 911 Window Dressing Tale by
Mark Elsis
http://StandDown.net
IGNORAD: The Military Screw-up Nobody Talks About
by Scott Shugar
http://AttackOnAmerica.net/IGNORAD.htm
911 Timeline
http://www.911Timeline.net
Audio clips, photos and Videos of Sept. 11, 2001:
http://www.9112001.net
Photos of “hijackers” – 7
are still alive; another died in 2000
www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/092701hjpic.htm
Family Steering Committee Independent Investigation
http://www.911independentcommission.org/
911 Commission homepage
http://www.9-11commission.gov/
911 Commission hears NORAD; May 23, 2003
http://www.c-span.org/VideoArchives.asp?Cat=Issue&Code=DESE
Air National Guard Mission and Vision statements
http://nerdcities.com/guardian/SeptemberEleventh/ang-mission.htm
FAA Standard Intercept Procedures
http://www.StandDown.net/FAAStandardInterceptProcedures.htm
Russian Air Force chief says official 9/11 story impossible
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/airf.htm
US Air Bases closest to hijack routes on 911
www.StandDown.net/USAFbases.htm
US Weapons Spending Exceeds Next 10 Biggest Nations
Combined
http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm
NORAD News Release giving 911 interceptor flight times
http://www.standdown.net/noradseptember182001pressrelease.htm
911 Commission Subpoenas FAA
http://StandDown.net/911commissionsubpoenasfaa.htm
911 Commission Subpoenas NORAD
http://StandDown.net/911commissionsubpoenasnorad.htm
Private Plane Flew Too Close To The White House
http://StandDown.net/privateplaneflewtooclosetothewhitehouse.htm
Frontier 737 Flew Too Close To The White House
http://StandDown.net/frontier737flewtooclosetothewhitehouse
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