'Angel is next': The terrifying message pilot of Air Force One got as he flew President Bush on 9/11

[jakeXT]

The pilot of Air Force One has revealed for the first time how they feared the presidential jet would be rammed by hijacked jet in the hours after the 9/11 terror attack.

Colonel Mark Tillman said he and his crew received a radio message saying 'Angel is next' as America reeled from the attack on the twin towers.

Angel was the secret call sign for Air Force One as it left Sarasota, Florida, where President Bush had been told about the attacks on the Twin Towers.

..

Tillman said the threat remained and he received the message:'We got word from the vice president and the staff that 'Angel was next,' Angel being the classified call sign of Air Force One.'

..

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2034423/9-11-message-Air-Force-One-pilot-Mark-Tillman-got-flew-President-Bush.html#ixzz1XipjnPzo

[LAGC]

1. Imagine if they did target Air Force One and succeeded.

Hello, President Cheney.

:scared:

[The Second Stone]

2. Maybe that is why W looked so frightened

at the My Pet Goat reading.

[Tx4obama]

3. SInce Cheney was at the command/control center at the time, it could have happened. n/t

[alphafemale]

4. Oh....bullshit.

No way in hell this could have happened.


Not buying the wolf ticket.

[The Magistrate]

5. Hear Hear, Ma'am

[NYC_SKP]

10. And, Sir, I think you might agree that GW was the best thing that ever happened to terror,

...terror, terrorists, and terrorism.

Why would they want to remove him?

:patriot:

[kristopher]

6. It is from the pilot of AF 1. Why is he not credible?

[Arkansas Granny]

7. The message came from Cheney and his staff. That's where the doubt

in the credibility lies.

[kristopher]

12. In that case...

I considered it a foregone conclusion that Cheney was trying to get Shrub out of the way; but I read the post as attacking the pilot's credibility. My error.

[kenfrequed]

11. Agreed!

This is malarky. It is entirely unsubstantiated and makes little sense. Who would send out such a message and why would one air force pilot be the only person that recieves it? This is one of a dozen little BS stories that I imagine will be floated about to work towards revising history a bit.

[kristopher]

13. The primary mission of AF1 is to ensure sustainability of the command structure.

The scenario described is entirely believable to me, and I once had reason to work with the operating instructions, regs and plans governing this type of issue. Remember, those OIs. regs and plans were built around protecting the president in the event of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. They have a huge amount of paranoia built into them by design.

[jakeXT]

14. It's not new

* A Secret Service page at 10:32 a.m. warned: "ANONYMOUS CALL TO JOC REPORTING ANGEL IS TARGET." Angel is the Secret Service codeword for Air Force One; JOC means Joint Operations Center. When the president's plane had departed Florida about half an hour earlier, it was en route to D.C. That anonymous threat seems to be what diverted President Bush on a high-speed flight across the country, first to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, and then to an underground command center in Nebraska.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504383_162-5770280-504383.html

[kenfrequed]

19. whoo-di-do

Anyone that watched the West Wing, or hell half of the movies that feature the president could easily have known about the code name.

This is a scam. I really doubt there was anything resembling an attempt to target Air Force 1. Oh wait, there wasn't. Not in their wildest fantasies did these terrorists even hope to accomplish it. Their closest shot was the Pentagon.

This "the angel is next crap." is fantasy prone Tom Clancy bullshit.

[valerief]

17. +1000

[liberal N proud]

8. So what happened to the "other" passenger jet?

The one that was close to AF-1 and not responding.

Seems odd, we don't hear about that one. But then there are many oddities about the whole 9/11 situation that no one has been truthful about.

[Ian David]

9. Sure. Like the highjackers could have FOUND Air Force One.

Cheney was probably just having a moment of fun. Or wishful thinking.

[kristopher]

15. The fear (as stated in the article) was that they were tracking it before takeoff.

Its location was known; Bush was at the elementary school at the time of the attack, remember? They were worried there might have been a jet at high altitude watching for the take-off and then implementing an attack plan.

Of course, Bush was probably panicking in the back making an already chaotic situation even worse. Just my speculation, of course.

[Ian David]

16. That still sounds incredibly difficult. They'd have to hit a moving plane...

... flown by one of the best pilots in the world, protected by armed planes, also flown by some of the world's best pilots.

[kristopher]

18. You have the benefit of hindsight, they didn't know the capabilities of the attackers.

The guy did what he did because he is an outstanding pilot. As I wrote above, paranoia is part of the job description.

Bush should have had command capability from this onboard command center so there is something screwy about the role Cheney was fulfilling. Bush must have explicitly delegated authority to Cheney as an on scene commander, but given the comm capabilities of AF1 I can't figure out a reason for that to have been needed unless Bush just didn't have the confidence to take on the responsibility.