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Issue 11 - Spring / Summer 2006 EDITORIAL |
The Legend of 9/11 - Now Playing ... Near You |
BY IAN WOODS
At the end of the newly released film United 93, when it appears Flight 93 has crashed by an act of heroism at 10:03 a.m., the silver screen goes blank and the audience gasps for air. Very powerful stuff ... Hollywood at its best. Then these ominous words appear: "President Bush did not give the shoot-down order until 10:18 a.m.". You can practically hear everyone in the audience gulp and say to themselves: "Darn it... too bad!" But was it true? Or was Hollywood twisting the facts to help the government solidify "the Legend of 9/11"?
"United 93"-- Based on Fact or Fiction?
According to a front page story in the Washington Post written by Dan Balz and Bob Woodward (27 Jan 02) called "America's Chaotic Road to War" (excerpted here):
After Bush's statement at Booker Elementary School [on 9/11], his motorcade raced back to Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. As Bush boarded Air Force One, a Secret Service agent, showing a trace of nervousness, said, "Mr. President, we need you to get seated as soon as possible." The plane accelerated down the runway and then almost stood on its tail as it climbed rapidly out of the airport. It was 9:55 a.m.
Once airborne, Bush spoke again to Cheney, who said the combat air patrol needed rules of engagement if pilots encountered an aircraft that might be under the control of hijackers. Cheney recommended that Bush authorize the military to shoot down any such civilian airliners -- as momentous a decision as the president was asked to make in those first hours. "I said, 'You bet,'" Bush recalled. "We had a little discussion, but not much."
Bush then talked to Rumsfeld to clarify the procedures military pilots should follow in trying to force an unresponsive plane to the ground before opening fire on it. First, pilots would seek to make radio contact with the other plane and tell the pilot to land at a specific location. If that failed, the pilots were to use visual signals. These included having the fighters fly in front of the other plane.
If the plane continued heading toward what was seen as a significant target with apparently hostile intent, the US pilot would have the authority to shoot it down. With Bush's approval, Rumsfeld passed the order down the chain of command.
Within minutes, there was a report that a plane had crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania -- what turned out to be United Flight 93, a Boeing 757 that had been hijacked after leaving Newark International Airport. Many of those in the PEOC [Presidential Emergency Operations Center] feared that Cheney's order had brought down a civilian aircraft. Rice demanded that someone check with the Pentagon.
On Air Force One, Bush inquired, "Did we shoot it down or did it crash?" It took the Pentagon almost two hours to confirm that the plane had not been shot down, an enormous relief. "I think an act of heroism occurred on board that plane," Cheney said.
The above excerpt -- which reads as tritely as a Hollywood script and, in itself, reinforces the official legend -- completely undermines the credibility of United 93 about when the shoot-down order was supposedly given. More importantly, both stories fail to mention that, according to Department of Defense Directives 3025.1 and 3025.15, the Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld), as well as any military commander (who is asked for an 'Immediate Response' to "save lives, prevent human suffering, or mitigate great property damage under imminently serious conditions") may immediately order the shoot-down of a hijacked plane, no questions asked.
The fact that Bush gave the shoot-down order before Flight 93 crashed, plus the fact that the President's authorization was not even needed to shoot down any of the hijacked flights was completely twisted by this multi-million dollar Hollywood production. How many more fictions are buried in the plot of United 93?
Dispelling the Myths -- Breaking the Trance
This issue of Global Outlook is meant to dispel these and other fictions being perpetuated by the corporate-controlled mass media which keep the 9/11 legend alive and prevent the truth from coming out.
In "Flights of Fancy", 9/11 scholar David Ray Griffin questions the legitimacy of the official story by highlighting all the conflicting stories that The 9/11 Commission Report, NORAD, the FAA, and expert witnesses have come up with, regarding the flight timelines and the lack of military response to the hijackings.
Griffin documents, for example, that Richard Clarke (who was running the White House videoconference between Cheney, Rumsfeld, General Myers and the FAA) reports that he received the shoot-down authorization from Cheney at about 9:50, hence 28 minutes earlier than the movie now claims.
There are so many discrepancies between the facts and the official story (as revealed in this issue and elsewhere) that, if we had the chance, we could now go to the Supreme Court and prove the official story is one Big Lie. I hope that after reading this issue, you and your friends, will be convinced that the 'official story' is a lie and that "The Legend of 9/11" will have a very short run.
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For more stories, plus many more extras, please get your copy of Issue #11 at our on-line store or at Chapters, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, Borders and many specialty bookstores across North America.