On 25 Aug 2004 20:42:22 -0700,

Joe Blowtowski <Joe_Blow@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<v15qi0da332k28nr2ddr0r1u47ofr1930n@4ax.com>...

Did you know that Lt. John Forbes Winthorp Kerry
sat silent and did nothing for 40 minutes on 9-11

I was watching TV when GMA interrupted their regular programming to
announce that a plane had crashed into the WTC. They then switched to
a roof camera and showed the smoking building. My mind started ticking
off lists, what to do in the event of such an emergency, was there
anything that I could do, should do, was responsible for doing. (No)
Charlie Gibson was speculating about it being "an accident," and I
thought "How is it that the media puts such naive idiots in these
jobs" (answer for another day) - I didn't need the 2nd plane to hit to
know that it was no accident.

Bush knew before he got to the elementary school that a plane had hit
the WTC. The same WTC that was hit by terrorists in 1993, in the
heart of the world's financial center. At the very least, reassuring
both the citizens of NY and America, and calming panicking money
institutions was not something that Bush had considered.

There was nothing John Kerry, as Senator for the state of
Massachusetts, could have done or should have done. John Kerry had no
responsibility for the security of the nation and the safety of the
American people on that day.

George W. Bush did have that responsibility. And he did nothing.

Conservatives want to excuse Bush's non-response because "there was
nothing that he could have done to prevent the death and destruction
in that time." That is factually not true.

At the very least, at the very LEAST, the 189 Americans who were in
the Pentagon when Flight 77 crashed into it would still be alive if
Bush had excused himself from the children's reading as soon as Andrew
Card had informed him that America was being attacked by terrorists.

Before the 1st plane struck the WTC, the FAA knew that 4 planes had
been hijacked. The controllers at the Boston Center, thinking on
their feet, broke standard procedure, didn't wait for headquarters to
contact the military and did it themselves. Before the 1st plane
struck the WTC, 2 F-15s were in the skies over NY looking for it. It
did NOT, however, have clearance to take any planes down.

This nightmare had been going on for a considerable time before the
White House Situation Room Director who was traveling with Bush in
Florida informed him of the crash into the WTC.

I find it hard to swallow that she (WH Sit Rm Director) told him about
the crash, but didn't tell him about the fact that the FAA had
informed the NMCC which had dispatched F-15s after the hijacked plane.
But we'll never know what Bush told the 9/11 Commission about that in
the closed door session.

Had Bush had the intellect and instincts that are required of the
leader of the most powerful nation on the planet, he never would have
even entered the elementary school once he'd heard about the first
plane hitting the WTC while in the limo on the way to the school.

"Larry Hewitt" <larryhewi@comporium.net> wrote in message news:<cfesoq$bfng$1@news3.infoave.net>...

"Jafo" <a@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:80mlh0ppcd4808c6hgf1kq592nvqnosnl5@4ax.com...

As viewed from alt.california, Larry Hewitt wrote:

"Jafo" wrote...
3. Legally only Bush could order an airlinre shot down. It appears
that Cheney made the order, but it is not certain. In any event, no
fighter ever intercepted either of the last two hijacked airliners.
This is particularly telling because Barabara Olson made the phone
call to her husband at 9:16, and National Airport reported the plane
heading for the White House at 9:34. It hit the Pentagon 4 minutes
later. It would have taken less than 18 minutes for fighters to
arrive from Andrews AFB. It would have been close, but they didn;t
even try.

NO reply to this?? Conceding that Bush should have given the order? And that
giving that order may have changed events?

4. The 4th airliner crashed in PA at 10:06. NORAD had been tracking
it as a hijacked plane since 9:16. We were lucky that the passengers
took it down in a field. The Air Force had 50 minutes to get to this
plane, and didn't because Bush and Cheney spent the time arguing
about who was in charge and whether or not Bush should go back to
DC.

Indeed? And you know for a fact that they were "arguing about who
was in charge"?

See the link below. Cheney had started issuing orders - including calling DC
a "freefire zone". Bush wanted to go back to DC. Cheney insisted he not come
to DC. CHeney won. AF1 circled Sarasota while the decision about a
destination was being made. A decisive, in control president would have made
a decision, not been bullied by the VP.

Has anybody here read the 9/11 Commission's report?

An order to shoot down a commercial aircraft would have to be issued
by the National Command Authority (a phrase used to describe the
President and Secretary of Defense). Cheney has absolutely no
constitutional authority to do anything at all, and yet it seems that
Cheney was running the show, arguing with Bush over the phone and
inventing reasons to keep Bush out of D.C. (Cheney apparently was the
one starting the rumors of threats to AF1).

Rumsfeld, was the only one with constitutional authority (along with
the President) to mobilize the military, to protect and defend the
U.S., and he was not contacted (although he was allegedly in his
office at the Pentagon all morning) until at least 1/2 hour after the
last of the 4 hijacked planes crashed.

You really have to read the 9/11 Commission's report to appreciate how
pretty much everybody down on the lower rungs of the procedural ladder
had done their jobs, determined we were under attack and that the
military was required. ALL BEFORE THE 2nd PLANE HIT THE WTC.

It was at the upper rungs of the ladder that were FUBAR.

At one point, F-15 fighter planes were in the air over NY, going after
Flight 11 (the 1st of the 4 hijacked planes to crash), BEFORE it hit
the WTC. This was BEFORE Bush entered the elementary school.

I know that I'm repeating myself, but you really have to read the 9/11
Commission's report to understand the procedural protocol and how it
broke down. You may ultimately then recognize why it is that we need
fully engaged, intelligent and actively interested Presidents.

People, mistakenly, think Bush is stupid. He's no genius, but he's
not stupid. He's lazy. Anything that doesn't interest Bush, if he
has to learn about it, is work. "The boss doesn't work. That's what
the employees are for." Every achievement and success in Bush's life
has come from somebody else's effort.

The job of POTUS is mostly public relations. Like sales, it's a
personality job. Speechmaking, ceremonial, spouting advertising
slogans that sell to the American people whatever it is that your
political party and patrons have backed your bid for the White House
for. There is rarely any split-second executive decision-making
required. Drones craft the policy, legislation, paperwork and (with
Bush in the job) other drones invent the language and advertising
campaign to get the American people behind it. An android could do
the job. Except for that odd emergency. Like planes hitting
skyscrapers in NY and the seat of America's military industrial
complex in Virginia.

The U.S. is an emergency-driven culture. The protocols that we have
in place for emergencies cover most contingencies. But when that new
contingency happens, that a protocol hasn't been written to cover, we
need somebody in charge who can think on his feet.

There are always going to be systems *****-ups, failures, mistakes due
to having not taken something into account. "Unforseen events." But
that's not really what happened here on 9/11/01. What we had here was
an inept, lazy George W. Bush.

No amount of a POTUS surrounding himself with solid, experienced
advisors to make up for his own inadequacy is going to provide the
security and protection necessary for the United States in the 21st
century.

(9:38 a.m.) Complete 911 Timeline
There are conflicting accounts of what Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld does in the 35 minutes between the second WTC crash (see
(After 9:03 a.m.)) and the Pentagon crash. In his 9/11 Commission
testimony, he covers the time with a "shortly thereafter:" "I was in
my office with a CIA briefer and I was told that a second plane had
hit the other tower. Shortly thereafter, at 9:38, the Pentagon shook
with an explosion of then unknown origin." [Independent Commission,
3/23/04] In the book , Bob Woodward writes, "Aware of the attacks on
the World Trade Center, Rumsfeld had been proceeding with his daily
intelligence briefing in his office" when the Pentagon gets hit. [Bush
at War, by Bob Woodward, 11/02 , p. 22.] However, according to
counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke, Rumsfeld joins a video
conference shortly after the second WTC hit (see (9:10 a.m.)) and
stays with the conference, apparently from his office. After being
told the Pentagon has been hit, Clarke says, "I can still see Rumsfeld
on the screen, so the whole building didn't get hit" (see (Between
9:38-9:45 a.m.)). The military response to the 9/11 crisis is being
coordinated in the NMCC, apparently located only around 200 feet away,
directly below Rumsfeld's office. [Defense Department, 9/15/01 (B),
Reuters, 9/11/01] At 9:39, Captain Charles Leidig, a low ranking
officer temporarily in charge of the NMCC, is handling a crisis
teleconference. He mentions reports of a crash into the opposite side
of the Pentagon, and requests that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld be added
to the conference. [Independent Commission Report, 6/17/04] As one
magazine has noted, "On Sept. 11, the normal scramble-approval
procedure was for an FAA official to contact the [NMCC] and request
Pentagon air support. Someone in the NMCC would call NORAD's command
center and ask about availability of aircraft, then seek approval from
the Defense Secretary?Donald H. Rumsfeld?to launch fighters."
[Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] But rather than join the
NMCC conference, Rumsfeld goes out of the Pentagon to see the crash
site, and remains out of contact for some time (see (After 9:38 a.m.)
and (10:30 a.m.)).

9:46 a.m. Complete 911 Timeline
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's office and acting Joint Chiefs of
Staff Chairman Myers' office report to the NMCC teleconference that
they are still trying to track down Rumsfeld and Myers, respectively,
and bring them into the conference. [Independent Commission Report,
6/17/04] Rumsfeld is apparently outside the Pentagon looking at the
Flight 77 crash site, though Richard Clarke suggests Rumsfeld is
elsewhere in the Pentagon for much of the time (see (After 9:38
a.m.)). Myers' whereabouts in the period after the Pentagon crash have
not been fully explained (see (Before 10:30 a.m.)). Rumsfeld and Myers
don't enter the NMCC until about 10:30 (see (10:30 a.m.)).

(Between 10:00-10:30 a.m.) Complete 911 Timeline
In Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's testimony before the 9/11
Commission, he states that he returns from the Pentagon crash site "by
shortly before or after 10:00 a.m." (see (After 9:38 a.m.)). Then he
has "one or more calls in my office, one of which was with the
president." [9/11 Commission, 6/17/04 (B)] According to the 9/11
Commission, the call with Bush has little impact: "No one can recall
any content beyond a general request to alert forces." The possibility
of shooting down hijacked planes is not mentioned. [9/11 Commission
Report, 6/17/04] Then Rumsfeld goes to the Executive Support Center
before finally entering the NMCC (see (10:30 a.m.)). Acting Joint
Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers repeats all these details.
[Independent Commission, 6/17/04 (B)] The Executive Support Center has
secure video facilities [Washington Times, 2/23/04], so it is possible
Rumsfeld joins or rejoins the video conference that Richard Clarke
claims Rumsfeld is a part of much of the morning (see (After 9:03
a.m.)and(Before 9:38 a.m.)).

(10:30 a.m.) Complete 911 Timeline
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld finally enters the Pentagon's
National Military Command Center (NMCC), where the military's response
to the 9/11 attacks is being coordinated. [shortly before 10:30, 9/11
Commission Report, 6/17/04, 10:30, CNN, 9/4/02] Rumsfeld later claims
that he only begins to gain a situational awareness of what's
happening after arriving at the NMCC. [9/11 Commission Report,
6/17/04] Rumsfeld was in his office only 200 feet away from the NMCC
until the Pentagon crash; what he does there during that time is
disputed (see (After 9:03 a.m.) and (9:38 a.m.))). He then went
outside to the Flight 77 crash site (see (9:38 a.m.) and (After 9:38
a.m.)) and then stayed elsewhere in the Pentagon (see (Between
10:00-10:30 a.m.)). Brigadier General Montague Winfield later says,
"For 30 minutes we couldn't find him. And just as we began to worry,
he walked into the door of the National Military Command Center." [ABC
News, 9/11/02] Winfield himself apparently only shows up at the NMCC
around 10:30 as well (see 8:30 a.m.).

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a938rumsfeld

Excellent rebuttal. Thanks for posting it.


Bush is a detriment to the USA and nothing else. For the sake of all
good Americans, he must be removed, legally and permanently, from
any public office whatsoever, in perpetuity, along with his cohort.


Then the bushkulties will need to be treated and educated if possible.

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a938rumsfeld

Excellent rebuttal. Thanks for posting it.


Bush is a detriment to the USA and nothing else. For the sake of all
good Americans, he must be removed, legally and permanently, from
any public office whatsoever, in perpetuity, along with his cohort.


Then the bushkulties will need to be treated and educated if possible.