Clarke exposes more Bush lies!

[paulthompson]

Hi,
I've just started reading the Clarke book, and already I'm finding some remarkable things in the first chapter.

Basically, we're finding out that what many of the key officials say they were doing on 9/11 is a lie.

Dick Cheney:

In the Clarke book on page 2, he is about to be evacuated from his office to the White House basement as Clarke finishes talking to him. The timing isn't exact, but it appears to be about 9:05 to 9:10. Yet Cheney himself says he was evacuated after 9:30. Here's my timeline entry. Note that even Cheney's official photographer disputes his account:

(After 9:03 a.m.) Secret Service agents burst into Vice President Cheney's White House office. They carry him under his arms - nearly lifting him off the ground - and propel him down the steps into the White House basement and through a long tunnel toward an underground bunker. ("Just after 9:00," ABC, 9/14/02 (B), around 9:06 when Bush is being told of the second WTC hit, New York Times, 9/16/01 (B), same time Bush is being told, Telegraph, 12/16/01, shortly after Bush's speech at 9:30, CBS, 9/11/02, 9:32, Washington Post, 1/27/02) At about the same time, National Security Adviser Rice is told to go to the bunker as well. (ABC News, 9/11/02) Accounts of when this happens vary widely, from around 9:03 to 9:32. But since ABC News claims Cheney is in the bunker when he is told Flight 77 is 50 miles away from Washington, accounts of this taking place after 9:27 appear to be incorrect (see (9:27 a.m.)). The one eyewitness account, David Bohrer, a White House photographer, says it takes place just after 9:00. (ABC, 9/14/02 (B)) Why doesn't this happen to Bush at the same time? Are reports of this happening to Cheney later spin meant to make Bush remaining in public seem less strange?

Richard Myers, acting Joint Chief of Staff:

In the Clarke book, page 5, Myers is talking to Clarke and others at 9:28 for sure, and possibly earlier. Yet according to his own testimony in front of congress two days after 9/11, he says he didn't even know there was an emergency until after the Pentagon crash at about 9:38.

(After 8:48 a.m.) Air Force General Richard Myers, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sees the first WTC crash on television. Myers will be acting Chairman of the US military during the 9/11 crisis because Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Henry Shelton is flying in a plane across the Atlantic. He sees the TV in an outer office of Senator Max Cleland, but he says, "They thought it was a small plane or something like that," so he goes ahead and meets with Cleland. He says "nobody informed us" about the second WTC crash, and remains oblivious that there is an emergency, only leaving the meeting with Cleland right as the Pentagon explosion takes place at 9:38. (AFPS, 10/23/01, ABC News, 9/11/02) Yet, in testimony on September 13, 2001, he states, "after the second tower was hit, I spoke to the commander of NORAD, General Eberhart. And at that point, I think the decision was at that point to start launching aircraft." (Myers Confirmation Testimony, 9/13/01) NORAD claims the first fighters are scrambled even before the first WTC hit. (NORAD, 9/18/01) Which of Myers' statements is the lie, or are both of them lies?

Note Myers even contradicted himself in that testimony. I assume Myers was under oath for his confirmation hearing. Can he be convicted of perjury for his lie then?

Donald Rumsfeld:

Minutes after the Pentagon is hit, and someone tells Clarke, "A plane just hit the Pentagon," Clarke replies, "I can still see Rumsfeld on the screen, so the whole building didn't get hit." A short time later, Rumsfeld says that smoke is getting into the Pentagon secure teleconferencing studio. Pages 7 and 8.

Yet Rumsfeld has always maintained that he went outside and helped load wounded into ambulances for the next hour! Timeline entry:

(9:38 a.m.) Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is in the Pentagon meeting with Representative Cox (R), and is apparently completely oblivious of the approaching Flight 77. As he watches TV coverage of the WTC, he says, "Believe me, this isn't over yet. There's going to be another attack, and it could be us." Supposedly, "moments later, the plane hit." (Telegraph, 12/16/01) Rumsfeld is apparently psychic, because two minutes before the first WTC crash and supposedly completely ignorant of the hijackings, he predicted a terrorist attack upon the US (see 8:44 a.m.). Rumsfeld's office is on the fourth floor of the Pentagon, relatively near the impact. He later says that just after the explosion, "I went downstairs and went outside. And around the corner and of course, there it was." He claims he immediately began helping the wounded: "There was a, a young woman bleeding, sitting on the ground, and I think she said to me, she didn't know who I was, she said, she could see people holding, drips going into people, IV of some kind, and she said, something to the effect, if people would, if someone could bring that person over, I could hold it." (ABC News, 9/11/02) He helps load the wounded into ambulances until 10:30 (see 10:30 a.m.). (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 9/12/01)


From Clarke's wording, it seems likely Rumsfeld was already teleconferencing BEFORE the Pentagon was hit.

George Bush Jr.:

This isn't from the Clarke book, but from a Wall Street Journal article from the day before yesterday. Here's a quote:

The arrival of the presidential motorcade was marked by a cacophony of cellphones: staffers at the White House calling colleagues on the trip with news of the first plane crash into the World Trade Center. Within seconds, aides had informed the president. At the Dec. 4, 2001, town-hall meeting in Orlando, Mr. Bush said, "I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly myself, and I said, 'Well, there's one terrible pilot.' " Several weeks later, he said essentially the same thing at another public event in Ontario, Calif. Actually, no scenes of the first plane hitting the Trade Center were broadcast on television until late that night, when amateur video footage became available. The TV in the room where Mr. Bush waited wasn't even plugged in, according Ms. Rigell, the principal. "It's just a mistaken recollection" on the president's part, his spokesman, Mr. Bartlett, said in an interview. "There were lots of things going on fast at the time."


As we pointed out in the Interesting Day essay, there are no less than seven conflicting accounts of when Bush learned 9/11 was an emergency:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html

In conclusion, we have four major players lying or being "mistaken" about what they were doing in key moments during the 9/11 attack. In every case, they claim they were more clueless or out of the loop than they really were.

I think this should be a major issue. Their official accounts always appeared absurd to me. For instance, Rumsfeld claiming to help the wounded but no actual photos of this ever appearing. Now with Clarke, these lies are exposed. I hope someone can forward this to the media, because I think this really needs to be reported on.

Here's the link to my Day of 9/11 timeline page where I take the above timeline entries from:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/dayof911.html

Paul

[Wonk]

1. Hi Paul. Long time no see. Here's an mp3 if you want it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x6670

[paulthompson]

4. Thanks

I'll check that out

[amber dog democrat]

2. This is starting to get really interesting

I only hope they are held accountable. I honestly believe worse things lie below the surface.

[TexasProgresive]

5. Amber

Yew mus be one of those new age yaller dawg demicrats from up thar at Austin, hunh?

[elperromagico]

3. See what happens when you habitually lie?

Each lie digs your grave just that much deeper.

"When you're in a hole, stop digging."

[FreakinDJ]

6. The Media has still not put it all together

Hanns Blix and his assessment of the No Weapons of Mass Destruction

Clark and the lack of security before 911

Pearl the secret White house agenda of War in Iraq

The dismantling and restructuring of much of the intelligence departments in the Pentagon - NSC - CIA - FBI

For those of us following 911 / PNAC and the Gigabytes of information linking all these realities together all of this is some thing we have known for quite some time. There was a clear agenda to get America into a war in the Iraq.

Just how far did they go to provide the means for the invasion is the question

[meti57b]

7. there was no television or radio annoucement by anyone in the whitehouse

or our federal government until many hours later. One of them should have been on television and radio right away or soon after to inform the nation of what was going on.

[paulthompson]

8. Bump

[skeptic9]

9. kick