Posted on 06/09/2004 10:38:46 AM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker
Ping
True, the article states "most...still grounded", but tisn't I who is trying to leave false impressions. Check out what I found in an article dated Thursday September 13, 2001, link in #45:
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said commercial and private planes would be allowed to fly effective 11 a.m. EDT Thursday.
"aircraft tracking equipment normally assigned to a noise abatement program"
Very interesting. I hadn't looked before to see who wrote the article - now that I see it was Jean Heller, I know it was written by a reporter with an agenda.
Ms Heller fancies herself an investigative reporter completely wasted in what she calls "The retirement capitol of the world." She keeps waiting for the NYT to discover her. Before this flight story, her most celebrated article was in early 1991, when she looked at satellite photos and "proved" that there were no Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait - and that (gasp!) Colin Powell was dragging us into war for no reason.
Ho hum. Another reporter with ambition and a heart full of bitterness.
Ha! I figured you'd know about this dame.
Well, isn't she special.
I've been wondering for years if she's the same Jean Heller as my 9th grade English teacher.
You're kidding! Can you imagine having been taught by such a person?! I would think a call to the newsroom and an inquiry into her cv might reveal all.
I'm not sure I'd want to know, though. LOL
___________________________________
See my post #40: "It's not in our logs ... it didn't occur,'' said Chris White, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office in Atlanta."
Did your search turn up any explanation for this flight and why the FAA denied it took place?
The links you provided pointed to news stories about the shuttling of aircraft that the commercial airlines did after the FAA lifted the nationwide TFR, but did nothing to address the subject of the news article which is the subject of this thread.
Instead you seem to be saying that the shuttling of aircraft by flight crews that took place after 11am with commercial service resuming on an extremely limited basis later in the afternoon explains the flight of the Lear carrying Saudi royalty from Florida to Kentucky.
Did the FAA deny that any other flight occurred that day?
Did they correct as a mis-statement the quote of their spokesman, Chris White?
Did Chris White himself correct himself, saying that their review of their logs showed that the Lear flight did take place?
No, I don't seem to be saying that. I was addressing the other issue--the claim by the Moores and others that all other flights were grounded and these flights (which certainly has been discussed ad nauseum since September 2001) were the only ones in the entire U.S. to be airborne.
There are several aspects of the tale that are being wielded to imply the Bush administration did something wrong or is hiding something. They didn't. I didn't have to search about reasons for the flight, it's long been explained. They were gathered in a central location and at a later date left the country. Three years later and despite the implications some try to throw around, there has been no evidence any terrorists or sympathizers were allowed to leave.
Since it's long been explained, as you say, and has been investigated and shown that no terrorists or sympathizers were on the flight from Tampa to Kentucky, then perhaps you can point me to a list of names of those who were on the Lear flight.
Do we have a list of all 140-odd people who were on these other flights allowed to leave or are we to take the government's word that none were terrorists or sympathizers?
No it's not. But why can't anybody else make that point as clear as you have?
Because they have another agenda?
This is rehash story from a year old INACCURATE report from World Net Daily.
From the 9-11 Commission (And the 59 Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11)
***When did the bin Ladens actually leave? Not until the next week, as the the 9/11 Commission staff report explains:
Fearing reprisals against Saudi nationals, the Saudi government asked for help in getting some of its citizens out of the country….we have found that the request came to the attention of Richard Clarke and that each of the flights we have studied was investigated by the FBI and dealt with in a professional manner prior to its departure.
No commercial planes, including chartered flights, were permitted to fly into, out of, or within the United States until September 13, 2001. After the airspace reopened, six chartered flights with 142 people, mostly Saudi Arabian nationals, departed from the United States between September 14 and 24. One flight, the so-called Bin Ladin flight, departed the United States on September 20 with 26 passengers, most of them relatives of Usama Bin Ladin. We have found no credible evidence that any chartered flights of Saudi Arabian nationals departed the United States before the reopening of national airspace.
The Saudi flights were screened by law enforcement officials, primarily the FBI, to ensure that people on these flights did not pose a threat to national security, and that nobody of interest to the FBI with regard to the 9/11 investigation was allowed to leave the country. Thirty of the 142 people on these flights were interviewed by the FBI, including 22 of the 26 people (23 passengers and 3 private security guards) on the Bin Ladin flight. Many were asked detailed questions. None of the passengers stated that they had any recent contact with Usama Bin Ladin or knew anything about terrorist activity.
The FBI checked a variety of databases for information on the Bin Ladin flight passengers and searched the aircraft. It is unclear whether the TIPOFF terrorist watchlist was checked. At our request, the Terrorist Screening Center has rechecked the names of individuals on the flight manifests of these six Saudi flights against the current TIPOFF watchlist. There are no matches.
The FBI has concluded that nobody was allowed to depart on these six flights who the FBI wanted to interview in connection with the 9/11 attacks, or who the FBI later concluded had any involvement in those attacks. To date, we have uncovered no evidence to contradict this conclusion.
That's an interesting possibility, I hadn't considered that.
Nice story but it doesn't really make much sense.
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