Nine Eleven Questions
IntroductionIt is essential to the security of the people the president is sworn to protect
that they know (1) whether or not the president is being informed promptly
of national emergencies that require the president's attention and (2) whether
or not the president responds promptly and effectively. The national interest
depends upon the participation of informed people in presidential elections.There were advance warnings of impending terrorist attacks on the United
States, and a number of the terrorists who took part in the attacks of
September 11th had been identified and put on a terrorism watch list.
Thirteen days before the attacks, all 19 hijackers had purchased tickets for
flights they would take on September 11th. The watch list, however, only
applied to international flights. Less than a week following the terrorists'
purchases of tickets for flights September 11th, a domestic flight ban was
placed on a noted author, Salman Rushdie. Mr. Rushdie was not banned
from flying because he had been identified as a potential terrorist, but
rather because he was seen as a potential victim of terrorism.Such actions as banning a potential victim from flying, while allowing terrorism-
watch-listed persons to fly, contradict official claims that the attacks of
September 11th came as a surprise. There were specific warnings concerning
specific persons taking specific flights on specific airlines that had for weeks
experienced remarkable short selling put options on their shares unlike any
other airlines. Two major exercises had been conducted within the previous 11
months involving response to the use of hijacked aircraft in attacks on government
buildings. A third such exercise was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. September 11th.The response to the attacks of September 11th, as well as failure to take measures
that could have prevented them, indicate that a less than credible defense was
mounted. Answers to questions regarding what was and was not done to protect
the United States are vital to the national interests.President Bush the evening of September 11th stated: "Immediately following
the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans."National air defense plans include prompt notification of the president, via the
Secret Service, in the event of a hijacking. Vice president Cheney confirmed
this several days after September 11th. Yet, if what the president has repeatedly
said is true, he was not told of the first two hijackings for a minimum of half an
hour after the first hijacking had been reported. By the time the president was
available to participate in the national defense, an hour had elapsed since flight
11 had been determined to have been hijacked.Question: When was the president notified that American Airlines flight 11
had been hijacked?If the president was not notified of the first or the second hijacking, as most of his
versions of events indicate, there existed an extremely serious breakdown of national
security procedures. If individuals prevented or delayed the reporting of a national
emergency to the president, those individuals should be identified.If the president put the emergency response plans into action before he entered the
classroom at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School to participate in a demonstration
of a reading program, that would help to explain why, when he was told by Andrew
Card that a second plane had struck the World Trade Center, he did not have any
questions for Mr. Card and why, on hearing that "America is under attack", he did not
excuse himself from the classroom. His response, which was to continue to participate
in the reading program, makes more sense, if he had already "implemented our
government's emergency response plans." Yet, the president's account of how he
learned of the attacks contradicts his statement that he acted immediately after the
first attack.Question: Why didn't the president authorize the use of force to down any
hijacked aircraft involved in the attacks of September 11th until twenty
minutes after the third of the four hijacked planes had already crashed into
a building? What could explain this option not being considered much sooner?In the aftermath of September 11th, the president referred to technology that would
allow remote control of aircraft such as the Boeing 767 and 757 involved in the
attacks. Some have asserted that this technology had existed for a considerable
period of time and could have been deployed. If on September 11th, the president
was under the impression, as he indicated later he might have been, that it was
possible to take control of a hijacked aircraft and so prevent it from being used as
an instrument of terrorism, that could help to explain why he did not order that the
hijacked aircraft be shot down. If such technology is, was, or could be available in
the future, the public should be so informed. The president seemed to want to assure
the public that soon it would be possible to employ such technology, but was
interrupted and has been silent on the subject since then.This introduction illustrates that addressing appropriate questions is essential in
determining whether or not confidence in our national defense plans and the
people who implement them is warranted. The examples of possible explanations
offered here, however incomplete, may illustrate the importance of learning as much
as possible of the truth before reaching any conclusion or adopting any theory. For
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