Government Accounts of 9/11 Reveal Gaps, Inconsistencies

[RamboLiberal]

Shortly after a passenger jet crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers raced back to the military headquarters from a meeting on Capitol Hill. The four-star general, acting head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that day, went directly to the Pentagon's command center. With smoke spreading into the cavernous room, he ordered the officer in charge, Maj. Gen. W. Montague Winfield, to raise the military's alert status to Defcon III, the highest state of readiness since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

That account is based on interviews with Gen. Winfield and a former White House official. In the months after Sept. 11, President Bush had a different public explanation about who put the military on high alert. The president said publicly at least twice that he gave the order. During a town-hall meeting in Orlando on Dec. 4, 2001, Mr. Bush said that after the attacks, "one of the first acts I did was to put our military on alert."

As that suggests, despite intense attention paid to Sept. 11, public understanding of that day -- how government officials responded, what went smoothly and what didn't -- remains shrouded in confusion and misunderstanding. The independent commission appointed to study the terror strikes has said it considers piecing together a minute-by-minute picture of that day's events crucial to its task of deciding whether the country needs to take further steps to prepare for potential future crises.

Scores of interviews with those who played key roles that day or directly witnessed events suggest that some official accounts of Sept. 11 are incorrect, incomplete or in dispute. Among other things, the commission is examining such questions as how long Mr. Bush remained in a Florida classroom just after the World Trade Center strikes, whether there really was a threat to Air Force One that day, how effectively American fighter jets reacted to the attacks, and who activated the national-emergency-response plan. The 10-member bipartisan panel, which plans to hold a public hearing tomorrow, is expected to issue a final report in July.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB107991342102561383-IJjgoNjlaF3oJ2rZnuIaKeBm4,00.html

[never cry wolf]

1. Nice article, and in the WSJ too!

Seems as if bunnypants wet his pants on 9-11.

[mouse7]

12. What part of WTC attacks didn't warrent going on alert?

I'll grant there was confusion and chaos after the first tower was hit. However, once the second tower was hit, everyone in the Western World understood we were under attack.

This is grounds for impeachment for gross incompetance. Any primary school student picked at random would have immediately put the US Armed Forces on alert after the second WTC tower was hit. Yet somehow, the alert didn't go out until a significant amount of time after the Pentagon was hit.

The Pentagon attack SHOULD have been prevented. It's clear from this article that gross incompetence on the part of the commander-in-chief allowed the attack through.

[proud patriot]

2. Wholly moley WSJ .....Woa !

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !

May the truth set us free

[cally]

3. Page 1 of the WSJ!

:bounce:

It's a great article and well worth reading. I'm amazed the WSJ reported this. Their editorial staff is different than their news staff.


edited to add this excerpt:

A former Bush White House official said in an e-mail response to questions that the president "was actually not involved in making decision on 9/11 about emergency plans until he formally signed a disaster declaration" three days later, on Sept. 14.

Commander bunnypants shows such leadership...not

[Melinda]

4. OMG, it's finally going mainstream press! OMG, OMG!!!! Look at this!!

Both Republican and Democratic commissioners have said they are focusing closely on what happened next -- and whether mere minutes could have affected the outcome on Sept. 11. The panel's investigators are looking at questions such as the timeliness of presidential orders about intercepting the jet that at 9:37 a.m. plowed into the Pentagon.

In a CNBC television interview almost a year later, Mr. Card said that after he alerted Mr. Bush, "I pulled away from the president, and not that many seconds later, the president excused himself from the classroom, and we gathered in the holding room and talked about the situation."

But uncut videotape of the classroom visit obtained from the local cable-TV station director who shot it, and interviews with the teacher and principal, show that Mr. Bush remained in the classroom not for mere seconds, but for at least seven additional minutes. He followed along for five minutes as children read aloud a story about a pet goat. Then he stayed for at least another two minutes, asking the children questions and explaining to Ms. Rigell that he would have to leave more quickly than planned.

Mr. Bartlett confirmed in an interview that the president stayed in the classroom for at least seven minutes. The spokesman said that as the president's staff was trying to learn more about the plane crashes, there was no need to talk to Mr. Bush or pull him away. The president didn't leave immediately after receiving the news of the second crash from Mr. Card because Mr. Bush's "instinct was not to frighten the children by rushing out of the room," the spokesman added. Mr. Bush's motorcade left the school at approximately 9:35 a.m., 32 minutes after he entered the classroom, according to a White House timeline and analysis of the uncut videotape.

------------------------
What is so significant about this, to me, is that everything in this article was noted and posted here on DU within hours of 9/11. Many, many DU posters worked countless hours gathering and analyzing the very data we FINALLY see reported here (and if I'm not mistaken, these same folks forwarded this to Kristen Breitweiser and the 911 families). It was DUers who managed to retrieve and save the original unedited classroom video after it was scrubbed from the website and we were told that the original was accidently destroyed. And I truly believe if not for the efforts of DUers, the BFEE might have pulled this one off too.

To all the DUers who tirelessly struggled to bring this truth to print, thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you and I salute your efforts and tenacity. WTG DUers, wtg. :yourock: :toast:

[bagnana]

7. I thought he stayed for 20 minutes?

I've seen that on numerous sites?

[Melinda]

9. At least 32 minutes from arrival to exit.

And at least 7 minutes after he was supposedly informed of the second plane. From the article:

In a CNBC television interview almost a year later, Mr. Card said that after he alerted Mr. Bush, "I pulled away from the president, and not that many seconds later, the president excused himself from the classroom, and we gathered in the holding room and talked about the situation."

But uncut videotape of the classroom visit obtained from the local cable-TV station director who shot it, and interviews with the teacher and principal, show that Mr. Bush remained in the classroom not for mere seconds, but for at least seven additional minutes.

[Zero Gravitas]

5. Wow

Bush is incompetent, a coward, AND a liar. Who knew?

[remfan]

6. Did this make it into the print edition of the WSJ?

Anyone know?

[RamboLiberal]

8. Yes it was in print edition

Pittsburgh Local Liberal 1360 WPTT Lynn Cullen read this today and I know she gets hardcopy of WSJ. I put over on GD and someone was kind eenough to post the link. (Otherwise I'd have probably been raiding my boss's trash).

I'm so glad this is in WSJ - there's sure to be a bunch of Repug business people reading this with their morning coffee.

[DeepModem Mom]

11. I know a lot of people who would be onto Bush...

if they didn't get their news from the WSJ. Maybe this will be a reality check for them.

[yardwork]

10. The consistency is mind-boggling.

W is proving to be incompetent in every single respect! He's 0 for infinity. He appears to be severely developmentally disabled.

[Cocoa]

13. I'm shocked by this

this confusing story has gone unreported for so long, I never thought I'd ever read about it in the mainstream press.

[Bandit]

14. And for two days after he hopped around the country seeking a safe hole

It was because of Bush*'s total absence that Rudy looked so good by comparison. For the first day or so it was all Hillary and the other Democratic Senator. They were on hand all through the crisis. It is total revisionist history that could attempt to make Bush* look good in any way. Rudy did his job, nothing more and nothing less and for that he should get a pat on the back but he certainly was no hero. Hell even Chelsey was more in harms way and did more to alleviate suffering than either Bush* or Rudy.

[LifeDuringWartime]

15. wow!

bout fucking time, eh?