| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Arther Miller" |
| Date: |
18 Dec 2003 06:53:16 AM |
| Object: |
911 Smoking Gun - The Story They Don't Want You To Read |
911 Smoking Gun - The Story They Don't Want You To Read
Pentagon Says Sept. 11 Interceptors Flew:
TOO FAR, TOO SLOW, TOO LATE
By William Thomas
Senior Correspondent
lifeboatnews.com
12-14-3
It happens all the time. When a small private plane recently entered
the 23-mile restricted ring around the U.S. Capitol, two F-16
interceptors were immediately launched from Andrews Air Force Base,
just 10 miles away. In a similar episode, a pair of F-16 "Fighting
Falcons" on 15-minute strip alert was airborne from Andrews just 11
minutes after being notified by the North American Aerospace Defense
Command (NORAD) of a Cessna straying towards the White House. [AP
Nov11/03; CNN June20/02]
These were well-practiced routines. With more than 4,500 aircraft
continuously sharing U.S. airspace, between September 2000 and June
2001 the Pentagon launched fighters on 67 occasions to escort wayward
aircraft. [FAA news release Aug/9/02; AP Aug13/02]
But on Sept 11, 2001, NORAD and the FAA ignored routine procedures and
strict regulations. In response to a national emergency involving
hijacked airliners as dangerous as cruise missiles, interceptors
launched late from distant bases flew to defend their nation at a
fraction of their top speeds. [NORAD news release Sept. 18/01]
WHAT NORAD KNEW A recently resurfaced NORAD news bulletin released
seven days after Sept. 11 explains that America's aerial defenders
were slow to counter rapidly developing air attacks because they
didn't hear from the FAA that American Airlines Flight 11 had been
hijacked until 8:40 that fateful morning. [NORAD news release Sept.
18/01]
But at the National Military Command Center (NMCC) in the basement of
the Pentagon, Air Force staff officers monitoring every inch of
airspace over the northeastern seaboard would have caught that first
hijacking when Flight 11's identification transponder stopped
transmitting at 8:20 - automatically triggering a radar alarm.
With their capability to monitor developing "situations" by tapping
into military and civilian radars, U.S. military commanders would have
also seen Flight 175 turn abruptly south 25 minutes later ö just as
they had watched on radar in October 1999 when pro golfer Payne
Stewart's Learjet abruptly departed its flight path while enroute o
Dallas. [CNN Oct26/1999]
In that legendary intercept, a fighter jet out of Tyndall, Florida was
diverted from a training flight to escort the Lear, whose pilot had
become incapacitated, trapping Stewart in the stratosphere. An F-16
was reportedly sitting off the left wingtip of Payne's pilotless
business jet within 19 minutes of the FAA alert. [ABC News Oct25/99]
If NORAD had been as quick to scramble or divert airborne fighters on
Sept. 11, two "anti-terrorist" F-15's on armed alert could have been
sent south from Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod. Flying at full
afterburners without edging over the Atlantic to disperse their sonic
footprint, two of the fastest fighters on the planet would have broken
a few windows. But all the glass in the Twin Towers might have stayed
intact had the "fast-movers" intercepted Flight 11 over the Hudson
Rive at least six minutes from Manhattan.
NO HURRY SAYS NORAD Instead, in a stunning admission that received
little press scrutiny at the time, NORAD noted that for all
interceptions flown against the hijackers on Sept. 11, "Flight times
are calculated at 9 miles per minute or .9 Mach." In other words,
every interception flown by the world's hottest air-combat aircraft
was flown at less than a third of the planes' top speed.
A Defense Department manual insists, "In the event of a hijacking, the
NMCC will be notified by the most expeditious means by the FAA." To
make this happen, the Federal Aviation Administration permanently
posts a liaison officer in the Pentagon air defense room. [CJCSI
3610.01A, June1/01]
Yet, according to NORAD, after air traffic controllers realized that
Flight 11 had been hijacked, 38 vital minutes passed before a pair of
F-15's was scrambled from Otis. As they lifted off, American Airlines
Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, 153 air
miles away as a Falcon flies. [NORAD Sept. 18/01]
United Airlines Flight 175 was still 20 minutes out.
"The F-15 pilots flew ''like a scalded ape, topping 500 mph but were
unable to catch up to the airliner," Maj. Gen. Paul Weaver later told
reporters. [St. Augustine Times Sept16/01]
Scalded apes? Airliners fly at 500 mph. An F-15 can fly almost
four-times faster.
STEP ON IT One of the Otis intercept pilots dubbed "Duff", later
lamented: "We've been over the flight a thousand times in our minds
and I don't know what we could have done to get there any quicker."
For starters, he and his wingman could have tried pushing their twin
throttles fully forward. Instead of flying two-and-a-half times faster
than a bullet, "Nasty" and "Duff" drove their expensive air
superiority fighters at a leisurely 447-mph ö supposedly to intercept
a Boeing 767 flying 43 mph faster! Utilizing only 27% power, the
F-15's were "eight minutes/71 miles" away, according to NORAD, when
Flight 175 struck the South Tower with 56 souls and more than ten tons
of fuel onboard. [Christian Science Monitor Mar8/02]
HONOR THE THREAT With both Trade Towers burning, and hijacked United
Flight 93 shadowed by a circling F-16 over Pennsylvania, American
Airlines Flight 77 was the only threat left in the sky. When that
Boeing 757 silenced its transponder signal, made a U-turn over
Kentucky and headed directly for the White House and the Pentagon, one
billion viewers riveted to the big networks knew this was a kamikaze
run. [Telegraph Sept13/01]
With no other bogeys on eastern seaboard scopes, air combat doctrine
dictates that the two unemployed Otis F-15s already in the area be
redirected to "honor the threat" of an incoming flying bomb, 330 miles
out. Even loafing along, the fighters would have more than 20 minutes
to confront Flight 77 before it neared the Pentagon.
Instead, Pentagon professionals defending their country's nerve
centers waited more than an hour after watching Flight 11 go rogue -
including 30 critical minutes after Flight 77 turned abruptly toward
them and the nearby White House - before scrambling two F-16's out of
Langley Air Force Base to protect the capitol.
Nearly half-an-hour after receiving the belated order to scramble, two
Falcons coasted in over the burning Pentagon. Slowed down to just 410
mph, it had taken the 1,500 mph-capable fighters 19 minutes to cover
the 130 miles from Virginia. It should have taken just over seven
minutes to reach the Pentagon ö at about the time Flight 77 was making
a predatory circle overhead. [NORAD Sept18/01; USAF]
GROUNDED The supersonic jets were flown no faster than WWII
prop-driven fighters. But it hardly mattered. Sitting on the Andrews
ramp just 10 miles away, were two fully armed and fueled supersonic
interceptors tasked with protecting the capitol from airborne
terrorist threats on 15 minutes' notice!
Isn't it about time someone asked why those routinely launched Andrews
interceptors were "stood down" as Flight 77 bored in toward the
headquarters they were supposed to protect? [San Diego Union-Tribune
Sept12/01
In the most heavily armed nation on Earth, at least two-dozen air
force installations were within fast flying time of the World Trade
Center and Pentagon. Does anyone else wonder why none of those
aircraft were ordered launched - or why none of the armed fighters on
training flights or patrolling Air Defense Intercept Zones just off
the Atlantic Coast were diverted to intercept four commandeered
airliners until after the Pentagon was struck ö one-hour and 18
minutes after Flight 11 was hijacked?
[www.af.mil/sites/alphabetical.shtml#a]
According to NORAD, the F-16s from Langley were still "12 minutes/105
miles" away when the big Boeing they were "chasing" soared past the
White House and the Andrews runways. Allegedly flown by an incompetent
Egyptian flight student who couldn't solo a Cessna, the 757 peeled off
and piled into the Pentagon after an abrupt dive and pull-up that left
veteran pilots agape. [San Diego Union-Tribune Sept12/01; NBC Nightly
News Sept11/01; All Fall Down]
Immediately after the Pentagon was hit, the Andrews alert jets were
launched to guard empty skies. [Mirror Nov13/03]
ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH Responding to questions from a Senate
confirmation committee two days after this suspicious fiasco, the
Joint Chief's acting air defense chief on Sept. 11 said he was in a
meeting while all hell was breaking loose in his sector.
Air Force Gen. Richard Myers had not let a TV report about a small
plane hitting the World Trade Center interrupt his routine. As jumbo
jetliners kept diving into buildings, apparently no one thought to
inform the acting commander of U.S. air defenses that his country was
under attack. Myers said he came out of his meeting just as the
Pentagon was hit.
Asked repeatedly when the brass were first informed of the emergency,
and when interceptors were scrambled, Myers repeated a muddled 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 like the luckless commanders
defending Pearl Harbor, or even reprimanded, General Myers was awarded
command of the entire U.S. military as new chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. Bush publicly commended the air force general for his
"calm manner, sound judgment, and his clear strategic thinking."
[White House press release Oct15/01]
As this bizarre and possibly treasonous story goes to press, the FAA
has refused to disclose documents relating to when that agency
notified U.S. air defenses about the four hijacked airliners. A second
subpoena served on the Pentagon by the National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States has been similarly
unsuccessful in attaining records concerning whether NORAD responded
quickly enough in dispatching interceptors on Sept. 11. [Washington
Post Nov8/03]
Instead of fingering air traffic controllers for not following
procedures, these documents could show that the FAA did follow its own
Standard Intercept Procedures and notify NORAD within a few minutes of
each hijacking ö which would leave the Air Force with even more
explaining to do. [AP Oct18/03]
.
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