[Lorianne]

Cannot link to article per publisher.

Very long article, full transcript is provided.

[My2Cents]

Should I get my tinfoil hat before reading this?

[Coleus]

What were they doing at McGuire Air Force Base? Isn't this base the closest to NYC?

http://public.mcguire.amc.af.mil/

and what hit the pentagon

http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/flash.htm#Main

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Fair Use:

When I asked Nasypany about the conspiracy theories—the people who believe that he, or someone like him, secretly ordered the shootdown of United 93 and covered it up—the corners of his mouth began to quiver. Then, I think to the surprise of both of us, he suddenly put his head in his hands and cried. "Flight 93 was not shot down," he said when he finally looked up. "The individuals on that aircraft, the passengers, they actually took the aircraft down. Because of what those people did, I didn't have to do anything."

[My2Cents]

Here's the bottomline:

Cheney echoed, "The significance of saying to a pilot that you are authorized to shoot down a plane full of Americans is, a, you know, it's an order that had never been given before." And it wasn't on 9/11, either.

[OldFriend]

Tom Kean at it again.

These people are one step away from total lunacy.

[snowrip]

Given the shaky history of Vanity Fair's unbiased accuracy in reporting, I'll be sure to digest this article with a shovel of salt.

[Redbob]

I listened to some of these on the radio, on the way to work this AM:
the NORAD folks just couldn't seem to grasp that this was NOT a "drill" - right up until the first plane hit the WTC.

Heard this goofy woman saying, "A plane's been hijacked?
Cool!"

Wanted to reach into the radio, and back in time, and just grab her by the throat!

[tcostell]

Without actually reading the article, I don't see that the pentagon has a great deal to gain by covering anything up. They weren't really viewed as being culpable in any way for 9/11, at least in terms of their reaction to the hijackings. There might be some issues outstanding on the "prevention" issue, but that also seems off topic here.

In the meantime I think it's pretty easy to see how they might be interesting in keeping some facts classified (otherwise known as "covered up from the enemy") and like anything in politics there was more than adequate opportunity to misspeak the actual events.

But a cover up doesn't seem likely to me. What precisely would be the point? It's like saying that Bush was trying to "cover up" the fact that he gained 5 pounds. There is no cost to him in presenting the truth, so why go to the trouble?

As you can see, I'm cynical.

[Pro-Bush]

The plane should have been shot down before hitting the Pentagon, period. ...Hell, it could've been the White House.

[AmeriBrit]

Bookmarked for later.

[gnarledmaw]

"With both towers now in flames, Nasypany wants the fighters over Manhattan immediately, but the weapons techs get "pushback" from civilian F.A.A. controllers, who have final authority over the fighters as long as they are in civilian airspace."

Isnt this like a responding firetruck waiting for the town zoning board to decide if its OK to violate posted parking?

If this is true, someone needs to sit down and do a major rewrite...

[TomGuy]

I uploaded a zipped file of the audio.

It consists of 35 files in mp3 audio format.

The zipped file is approxiately 6.5 meg

To download, click on the link below:

http://d.turboupload.com/d/840704/911NORADTapes.zip.html

Arrow down the the bottom row of the light green box. Wait for the counter to finish and then download the zipped file.

[Niteranger68]

Those who subscribe to conspiracy theories do so only because they lack the ability to remember or process facts. Believing in a conspiracy theory allows one to create their own reality as they go alone, thus insuring they are never wrong.

[Lucky9teen]

We can also thank Clinton for cutbacks in military spending. /sarc

Otherwise, they might have had better equipment to track these planes, alert them faster and react better/faster.

[GOP_1900AD]

I go with the way it was depicted in United 93. Essentially, chaos and lack of protocol. Can't respond like clockwork that that which is well outside previous scenarios and gaming. Fault is with the lack of creativity in said scenarios and gaming. End of discussion. Learn from it and move on.

[rit]

Some interesting highlights from the story:

08:37:58	Otis calls North East Air Defense (NEAD) asking about the possible hi-jack and NEAD says they are working on it.
08:39:58	Boston Center tells NEAD there is a possible threat to the cockpit
08:44:59	NEAD orders Otis to scramble two jets toward NYC
08:46:36	NEAD still cannot locate Flight 11.
08:51:11	NEAD gets first report of Flight 11 crash
08:52:40	NEAD confirms continue sending Otis jets toward NYC
08:55:18	Boston Center tells NEAD "he crashed into the World Trade Center"
08:56:31	NEAD calls Boston Center for confirmation, but Boston Center cannot confirm its Flight 11

Next, the author explains that "American Airlines refused to confirm for several hours that its plane had hit the tower." To me, that is just unbelievable on American Airlines part.

Another interesting tidbit from the story is that NORAD had only 14 jets to cover the US, and of these, NEAD had only four jets to cover the whole north east air defense (two at Otis and 2 at Langley).