9-11 Probe Continues To Bypass Executive Branch Testimony

9-11 Probe Continues To Bypass Executive Branch Testimony

Commission Has Not Compelled Three Individuals Having Most Power To Affect Immediate Action On 9-11 To Explain Their Failure To Defend America. All Three Remained In Offices And An Elementary Classroom While Four Planes Crashed. This, Despite Having 25 Minutes Advance Notice From Secret Service, Pentagon, And Air Traffic Controllers Prior To First Crash--But Also A Full Summer Of Frantic But Now Classified Briefings About “Planes Used As Weapons To Crash Into Buildings,” Thus Permitting White House To Shield Its Prior-Knowledge.

By Tom Flocco

PHILADELPHIA -- October 13, 2003 (TomFlocco.com) -- Tomorrow’s public hearing on Capitol Hill, held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, will focus upon how intelligence affects the War on Terrorism. However, the ten-member commission is continuing to hear expert witness testimony mostly from former government officials rather than compelling public testimony from current high-ranking individuals in the executive branch to defend their lack of decisive action on September 11, 2001.

Since the dramatic testimony and hallway media interviews held last May 22-23 involving military generals and the Transportation Department, the Commission has restrained itself from compelling President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers to explain their highly questionable actions on the day of the attacks. The timeline of events is astonishing, in and of itself.

The first commandeered plane, American flight 11, was considered hijacked at 8:13 am [33 minutes prior to crashing into the North Tower at 8:46], having failed to follow flight instructions from air traffic controllers, after which it turned 100 degrees south toward New York City at 8:20 am. At that time, according to our conversation with a Department of Transportation source, phone bridges were established linking Secret Service, Defense Department, NORAD, and Transportation Department officials--and others. Thus, President Bush’s Secret Service detail in Florida was well aware of a hijacking some 25 minutes before any of the planes impacted the World Trade Center, Pentagon, or the field in Pennsylvania. And Bush himself publicly told reporters at 8:35 am that he "would have more to say later on."

And given the now-classified June through August, 2001 intelligence intercepts and briefings about terrorists commandeering planes and crashing them into buildings, the President should have initiated immediate action at 9:05 am instead of continuing to read to elementary children for at least 28 more minutes while America was under attack.

At 8:41 am, pilot contact was lost with United 175 [22 minutes before crashing into the South Tower at 9:03 am--but 50 minutes since the first hijack warning.] And at 8:56 am, pilot contact was lost with American 77 [47 minutes before crashing into the Pentagon at 9:43 am--but 90 minutes since the first hijack warning.] Thus, by the time President Bush received the famous whisper from his Chief of Staff Andrew Card at about 9:06 am that “America is under attack,” two planes had impacted the World Trade Center and a third was already considered hijacked and heading toward the Pentagon. This, while having received three months of briefings about the same subject: planes used as weapons to be crashed into American buildings.

At 9:27 am, reports indicate that United 93 was hijacked while the President was still reading and talking with teachers and children at the Florida elementary school--even after the White House press corps had already rushed out of the classroom to cover the attacks. [39 minutes before crashing into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:06 am--but 1 hour and 53 minutes since the first hijack warning at 8:13 am]

Rumsfeld and Meyers remain in offices during 9-11 attacks
According to a WBZ Boston radio station interview (9-15-2001), Victoria Clarke, Deputy Secretary of Defense, revealed that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld remained in his office “making phone calls” from 8:20 am--when the Defense Department was notified of the first hijacking--until American 77 impacted the Pentagon at 9:43 am, one hour and 23 minutes later:

“Immediately the crisis management process started up. [Sometime after 8:20 am] A couple of us had gone into the secretary's office, Secretary Rumsfeld's office, to alert him to that, tell him that the crisis management process was starting up. He wanted to make a few phone calls. So a few of us headed across the hallway to an area called the National Military Command Center. He (Rumsfeld) stayed in his office....”

“The secretary was in his office, really not that far away from the side of the building that got hit by the plane. He and another person immediately ran down the hallway and went outside and helped some of the people, some of the casualties getting off the stretchers, etc.” (Deputy Secretary of Defense Victoria Clarke) [Thus Rumsfeld stayed away from the National Military Command Center for nearly an hour and a half during the actual attacks until three planes had crashed.]

According to wide reports, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers [highest-ranking U.S. general on American soil at the time] was told about the first plane crashing as he entered the office of then-Senator Max Cleland (D-GA) to discuss his upcoming confirmation hearing. Strangely, Myers remained in Cleland’s office until all four planes had crashed; and incredibly, his meeting was not interrupted in spite of the attacks. [And there are no known reports of his having entered the National Military Command Center for nearly two hours during the attacks.]

Moreover, a source wishing to remain unidentified said that Meyers was heard loudly yelling and cursing in Cleland’s office during the attacks; but strangely, he still remained ensconced in the Georgia Senator’s office until all the planes had crashed, seemingly not initiating immediate and decisive leadership over nearly a two hour period of time. This, with fighter jets capable of flying 1,500+ miles per hour at his immediate disposal. [Interestingly, Max Cleland is now a member of the Commission, having access to all subpoenaed documents, sealed testimony, and future flow of the “investigation.”]

Everyone but the ones involved
Nonetheless, instead of compelling the testimony of the persons most able to order the immediate forceful defense of America, the 9-11 Commission has chosen to continue listening to those who had nothing to do with the actual events on the day of September 11. All this, while seemingly maintaining what amounts to a de-facto shield around the White House--a protective shell originally initiated by congressmen and senators, many of whom were privy to the same intelligence intercepts and briefings about planes, weapons and buildings that the White House received. Moreover, George W. and Vice-President Cheney had strenuously lobbied Congress not to hold hearings investigating the attacks.

And not wishing to interrogate itself about the contents of intelligence documents or why some legislators, including Senator Bob Graham (D-FL), Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), and Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ)--along with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage--met during the week and on the morning of the attacks with a Pakistani general who had earlier wired $100,000 to terrorist leader Mohammed Atta, the joint intelligence committee punted the ball over to the 9-11 Commission. Strange congressional oversight.

We have attended and reported the ongoing 9-11 hearings and litigation in New York City and also the 9-11 Commission Hearings in Washington, having written some ten reports and over 12,000 words dealing with both subjects. However, the Commission will only hear testimony on “leadership of U.S. intelligence, intelligence and national security policy, and the effectiveness of warning against transnational threats.” In other words, everybody but the White House.

And while on the surface it seems noble to address the 9-11 issue so we can ‘move on' and 'attain closure' so it will 'never happen again,' (like the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the USS Liberty, the USS Cole, etc.), both the legislative branch and the executive branch have thus far not been held accountable for the worst intelligence disaster in American history.

This writer will not waste his time attending 9-11 Capitol Hill hearings which continue to shield many members of Congress and the White House against negligence--or worse. But hopefully, a presidential candidate with some courage will thrust the mysteries of 9-11 out into the open and demand that the executive branch and intelligence committee legislators fully explain their actions linked to the full 9-11 timeline of events. Check it out. The timeline facts are absolutely devastating.

Regardless, we believe it is time for a widespread legislative housecleaning, as more and more individuals have indicated that "something really smells regarding 9-11."

But don’t hold your breath. We still have to guarantee that the electronic voting machines aren't fixed. The presidential primaries and 2004 election are just around the corner; and 9-11 is only one of the "Crucial Causes Of Our Time".

Click here to read the 9-11 Commission Media Advisory and October 14 Agenda.

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