They did NOT wait.
They briefed their chains of command. Military officers do not give press conferences. They do not enter into the political arena. They perform their duties. These men forwarded this information up the chain. Scott Philpot was briefly interviewed by the 9/11 Commission. The political classes who sit atop the military, and who sat in that Commission, were not interested in what Captain Philpot had to say, and they were not interested in what was reported up the chain of command either.
What happened here was that a young officer, the LCDR, got sick of the bullshit and the lies of the political classes, both parties, and seeing that the lie was going to become the official truth, he broke ranks and told the truth.
And rather than let him be hung out to dry, his superior, Capt. Philpot, unenthusiastically stepped forward - when the malignant politicians of BOTH parties (let's keep this straight here; the Republicans are in command and they have not stood by these officers but have made statements that undermine them) made it clear that the LCDR was going to be destroyed and the truth denied, and his commander said "No, he's telling the truth. That's what happened."
So, Captain Philpot and this LCDR both just ended their careers, because they told a truth that the Democrats and Republicans both want to supress and massage for their own reasons.
They deserve medals. Instead, the Republican establishment is going to cashier them. The buck stops with the men in charge. And the men in charge on September 11, 2001, and the men directing DiRita, are REPUBLICANS, not Democrats.
Philpot came forth because he wasn't going to let his junior officer be eaten alive for telling the truth. So now they are both going to be eaten alive by the bastards in the Democratic Party. But I am going to focus on the bastards in the REPUBLICAN party who, instead of standing by their officers, are playing the discrediting games.
How these officers are treated will tell you everything you need to know about the honesty of the Bush Administration. They are telling the complete truth, as far as they knew it. They have reported this, in due course of business, up the chain and been ignored. The Administration controls the mechanism that can protect these people. If they don't, if instead you see Captain Philpot twisting in the wind, you will know - if you are discerning enough to listen to the Truth and understand it when you are being it told it - that the Bush Administration are lying snakes no better than the Clintons.
This is the Bush Administration's Billy Dale moment. Billy Dale is Scott Philpott. Watch what happens to him. If Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are honorable, Philpott will be praised and protected. If they are Clintonesque, Philpott will be called "in error", and hung out to dry.
To those who can see, this is the great test.
Obviously your feet are planted FIRMLY on the ground and you know how the game is played in Washington. I pray that these two fine officers are equally well versed as I STRONGLY suspect they are.
The other possibility the Pentagon (using DiRita) is drawing out the opposition to deny, deny, deny this operation only to spring the trap.
I saw Slade Gorton going ballistic on O'Reilly last night denying everything about the story. I have never seen him so exercised and adamant on anything, thundering in fact, in outrage at the suggestion the 911 Commission is covering anything up. He must really be getting nervous!
Who next on that failed Commission will hang themselves and their cover-up report?