Snoop Dog unavailable for comment.
Fo Shizzle.
Posted on 06/17/2004 11:27:18 AM PDT by Mich0127
WASHINGTON – Plagued by miscommunication and confusion, the Pentagon's air-defense command had little opportunity to intercept the four hijacked planes that crashed on Sept. 11 and killed nearly 3,000 people, the federal panel reviewing the attacks said Thursday.
At the commission's final public hearing, a report recounting the details of what happened with each of the planes was read aloud before an audience that included victims' relatives, some clutching photos of their loved ones.
The reading of the report was interspersed with tape recordings from the planes and control towers that had not been heard in public before. Accompanying graphics traced the flight paths of the four planes.
A particularly haunting transmission came from the cockpit of American Airlines Flight 11, which took off from Boston and was the first plane to strike the World Trade Center. A person believed to be Mohamed Atta, the alleged ringleader of the 19 hijackers, who piloted the plane, is heard saying to passengers: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you'll be OK. We are returning to the airport."
Later, Atta tells the passengers, "If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane."
Later, another tape was played of a transmission from United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back against the hijackers. On the transmission, a hijacker is heard telling passengers "there is a bomb on board."
The report detailed a series of missteps by aviation and military officials that squandered precious minutes between the time air traffic controllers became aware of the first hijacking and the crash of Flight 93 more than an hour later.
And it recounted confusion at the Federal Aviation Administration and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) that led to delays in scrambling fighter jets to intercept the planes.
Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in an underground shelter in Washington, eventually issued an order to shoot down hijacked planes, but military pilots did not receive it until the last of the four planes, Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania. Cheney said he received the authorization in an earlier phone call with President Bush, who was being flown to a safe location after an appearance in Florida.
The report largely blamed inadequate emergency procedures that contemplated more time to react to a traditional hijacking rather than a suicide hijacking.
'Never Trained'
"NORAD and the FAA were unprepared for the type of attacks launched against the United States on September 11, 2001," the report said. "They struggled, under difficult circumstances, to improvise a homeland defense against an unprecedented challenge they had never encountered and had never trained to meet."
In many cases, the panel praised the actions of government personnel forced to make split-second decisions. In the hours just after the attacks occurred, nearly 4,500 planes in the air had to be landed as quickly as possible. To do that, air traffic controllers first had to reroute about a quarter of them juggling 50 times the usual number of planes rerouted each hour.
"We do not believe that an accurate understanding of the events of that morning reflects discredit on the operational personnel," the report said.
The commission is winding down its 1 1/2-year investigation after interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses, including Bush, and reviewing more than 2 million documents. It will issue a final report by July 26 that will include recommendations on how the government can improve its homeland defense.
Scheduled to testify Thursday were Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as officials from NORAD and the FAA.
'Lessons of What Went Right'
"The real issue is first establishing the facts minute by minute," said Republican commissioner John Lehman, a former Navy secretary. "Who knew what when? What orders were given? From there we can learn the lessons of what went right."
The report issued said air traffic controllers realized at 8:24 a.m. on Sept. 11 that Flight 11 was being hijacked, but lost several minutes notifying layers of command, according to protocol, before contacting NORAD. The plane crashed at 8:46 a.m.
Controllers, meanwhile, didn't realize American Airlines Flight 77, which took off from Dulles Airport outside Washington, might be hijacked when it mysteriously started veering off course at 8:54 a.m. The plane then traveled undetected for 36 minutes toward Washington, due in part to a radar glitch.
The confusion meant only an unarmed military cargo plane could be diverted to track the plane. The plane located Flight 77 but could do nothing as the commercial jetliner crashed into the Pentagon.
Bush: 'Somebody's Going to Pay'
Other findings by the commission:
# When Bush was told of the multiple hijackings, according to notes of the call, he told Cheney: "Sounds like we have a minor war going on here. I heard about the Pentagon. We're at war. ... Somebody's going to pay."
# Although NORAD officials disagree, fighter jets might not have been able to intercept United Flight 93, believed to be headed for the Capitol or the White House. It crashed into a Pennsylvania field after passengers stormed the cockpit. "Their actions saved the lives of countless others," the panel said.
On Wednesday, the commission reported al-Qaida originally envisioned a much larger attack and is working hard to strike again, most likely in the form of a chemical, radiological or biological attack.
The commission staff said Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed initially outlined an attack involving 10 aircraft targeting both U.S. coasts. Mohammed proposed that he pilot one of the planes, kill all the male passengers, land the plane at a U.S. airport and make a "speech denouncing U.S. policies in the Middle East before releasing all the women and children," the report said.
Bin Laden rejected that plan as too complex, deciding instead on four aircraft piloted by hand-picked suicide operatives.
The commission also said there was no evidence of a "collaborative relationship" between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein.
bump!
BUMP!
BUMP
Hahahahaha! This farce of a commission can't find anyone to blame so they're picking at straws now. This was an obvious waste of $15 million taxpayer dollars.
BTTT!!!!!!!
It's easy to put the ball in that thing at the ends of the court after all.
Absolutely...a 15 mil. witch hunt...just so the Rats can try to prove their delusion that the War in Iraq was pre-planned and that Bush knew about 9-11 (because God forbid we mention that darling Clinton had Bin-Ladin in his hands!!!)
Hindsight is 20-20...however, their hindsight leaves out the minor detail that THE RATS KNEW ABOUT IT DURING THE CLINTON YEARS!!!
Snoop Dog unavailable for comment.
Fo Shizzle.
Knowing all this, the Left will continue to oppose the Patriot Act.
Does anyone know when we began (and/or excellerated) our "downsizing" of our civil defense efforts and which president was responsible? I'd think that'd be a factor in any "lack of preparedness" evaluations.
Also: Can you imagine how difficult it'd be if we were having hearings to justify our shooting down a passenger plane in the pre-9/11, hijackers-always-LAND-the-plane-somewhere days? (IOW, if we HAD prevented planes from hitting any buildings in that manner, the burden of proof would be on proving they were going to hit buildings!)
Exactly, this is a catch 22...and imagine if we shot down the planes? The left would freak because we harmed their best friends...Islamic fundamentalists.
I have one word for those who want to point fingers: CLINTON
Your sarcasm about this panel matches my own perfectly. Salute!
great minds think alike!
Of course...what else is new? Because they all love fundamentalist Islams, and why should they support anything that hinders their right to terrorize delinquent Americans?
Thanks for the ping!
Not only was this "accusation" totally convoluted and offensive, the brass explained that on 911 they did not know the planes by their call letters and thought there was a risk of further planes in any event and they didn't know about this one tape - AND the witness Ben Veniste was accusing had NEVER testified before and BV had to apologize but then levelled his accusations at the others. BV also admitted but w/o being honest about the significance, that the commission staff only found this one obscure taped reference after a long painstaking search for tapes which nobody thought existed and which were hard to decipher. The whole thing was deeply offensive.
Like a whiny baby who has to admit that he was wrong!
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