Saturday, February 24, 2007

NORAD StandDown / WarGames & 9/11

1. Information Compiled By: PrisonPlanet
PrisonPlanet

Why didn't NORAD fulfil its standard operating procedure and intercept the planes?

Were NORAD intentionally confused by the wargames taking place on the morning of 9/11 or were they ordered to stand down?

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Wargames Were Cover For the Operational Execution of 9/11:
No single smoking gun has yet been forwarded to explain why air defenses categorically reversed Standard Operating Procedure and failed to respond to hijacked jetliners. Until now. More and more individuals are looking at the facts and highlighting exercise drills that took place on the morning of 9/11.

Cheney: "The orders still stand" as Flight 77 approaches the Pentagon with no action taken to defend it

Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta was in thePresidential Emergency Operating Center with Vice President Cheney asFlight 77 approached Washington, D.C. On May 23, 2003 in front of the9/11 Commission, Secretary Mineta testified:

"During the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon, therewas a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President,

"The plane is 50 miles out." "The plane is 30 miles out."

And when it gotdown to "the plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the VicePresident, "Do the orders still stand?"

And the Vice President turnedand whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand.Have you heard anything to the contrary?"

As the plane was not shot down are we to take it that the orders were to let the plane find its target?

Agency planned exercise on Sept. 11 built around a plane crashing into a building:
In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence, one U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft would crash into one of its buildings. But the cause wasn't terrorism — it was to be a simulated accident.

PENTAGON WAS PREPARING FOR CRASH SCENARIO IN NOVEMBER 2000:
Nov. 3, 2000 — The fire and smoke from the downed passenger aircraft billows from the Pentagon courtyard. Defense Protective Services Police seal the crash sight. Army medics, nurses and doctors scramble to organize aid. An Arlington Fire Department chief dispatches his equipment to the affected areas.

Alex Jones Discusses 9/11 Wargames:
The current wave of research related to how wargames were used as the cover for the operational execution of 9/11 was first highlighted by Alex Jones in his August 2002 film, 'Masters of Terror'. This clip features Alex commenting on similar issues in a clip taken from an April 2004 Prison Planet.tv members-only video feature.

Alex Jones discusses 9/11 wargames in his 2002 film 'Masters of Terror':

The 9/11 USAF Stand Down:
Question: How was a plane which was known to be hostile able to have an unimpeded 48 minute joyride around US airspace before slamming into the heart of the US military?


Answer: Stand down.

How the USAF was Stood Down on 9/11:
On 9/11 there was no reaction from the USAF as hijacked aircraft flew through US airspace and plowed into buildings. This lack of response is inconceivable unless the USAF was stood down.

Scrambled F15’s From Otis Air Force Base: Mach 1.5 or Cruise Speed?:
Why did General Myers initially state that no military aircraft was scrambled until after the Pentagon was hit?

Why did Major Gen Arnold contradict that statement a few days later?

Why did Major Gen Arnold state that they flew at mach 1.5, when it is obvious they didn’t?

Why didn’t the F-15’s accelerate to mach 1.5 or higher?

9/11 Flight Controller: "Is This Real World or an Exercise?":
On a BBC video report which focuses on the 'hijacker screening video', a clip is played from the voice of a 9/11 flight controller, in which he responds to news of a hijacked flight heading towards New York with the words, "is this real world, or an exercise?'

FNMCC ops director asked substitute on 9-10 to stand his watch on 9-11:
According to the personal written statement of Navy Captain Charles J. Leidig, Jr....on September 10 he was asked by Brigadier General Montague Winfield to stand a portion of his duty as Deputy Director for Operations for the National Military Command Center (NMCC), which would require supervision and operation of all necessary communications as watch commander.

Guilty For 9/11: Bush, Rumsfeld, Myers:
On 11 September Andrews had two squadrons of fighter jets with the job of protecting the skies over Washington D.C. They failed to do their job. Despite over one hour's advance warning of a terrorist attack in progress, not a single Andrews fighter took off (or scrambled) to protect the city.

Compare the reaction of the FAA to the Payne Stewart incident to that of 9/11:
We are presenting this article from USA TODAY as a comparison of how the FAA reacted in this case (which is mandated under FAA rules and regulations) as opposed to how they did not react on 9-11.

35 USAF Bases Within Range On 911: The 7 Air Stations On Full Alert Covering The Continental United States And 28 More Air Stations That Were In Range Of The 4 Airliners On 911

Atlantic City F-16 Fighters Were Eight Minutes Away From 9/11 Hijacked Planes:
Why?

Why weren't they alerted?

And even if they had been told about the hijackings, what could they have done?

The jets weren't armed to shoot down another plane. Their mission was bombing drills.

Why?

Found: The 911 "Stand Down Order"?:
Jim Hoffman has discovered a document which I believe may be very important to the 911 skeptic movement. This document superseded earlier DOD procedures for dealing with hijacked aircraft, and it requires that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is personally responsible for issuing intercept orders.

Fighter jets from Andrews AFB escort 'hijack hoax' plane - why weren't these fighters scrambled to intercept Flight 77 and protect Washington on 9/11?:
Two F-16 jets from Andrews Air Force Base were sent to intercept and escort the Airbus A319, said Maj. Ed Thomas of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Where were they on 9/11? Andrews AFB intercept jet near White House:
The plane apparently strayed within the Air Defense Identification Zone, roughly a 23-mile radius around Washington, according to Les Dorr, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Representative Cynthia McKinney Grills Rumsfeld On 9/11 Wargames:
Rumseld and Myers forced to shuffle uncomfortably and fumble for words as McKinney gets in their face about three issues seldom mentioned in official circles.

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2. Senator Dayton: NORAD Lied About 9/11

Courtesy Of: InfoWars
(Added Aug. 4: Transcript of Sen. Dayton's remarks of July 31. )

Sunday, August 1, 2004

Introduction:

Mark Dayton has become the first U.S. senator to challenge the rush to consensus that "The 9/11 Commission Report" settles the open questions of Sept. 11, 2001. In hearings last Friday, Sen. Dayton (D-MN) raised an obvious point: if the timeline of air defense response as promoted in the Kean Commission's best-selling book is correct, then the timeline presented repeatedly by NORAD during the last two years was completely wrong. Yet now no one at NORAD is willing to comment on their own timeline!

When the official story of 9/11 can be changed repeatedly without anyone ever being held accountable, we have no right to ever again expect honest government. Please read the following story and do your part to support Sen. Dayton for highlighting the contradiction, and to encourage the media to follow up.

Complete Article:
http://www.infowars.com/print/Sept11/dayton_911truth.htm

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3. Senator Dayton Accuses FAA and NORAD
of Lying on 9/11 Failures


Courtesy Of: WantToKnow.info

Dear friends,

Can anyone tell me why only one Minneapolis newspaper was willing to report this incredibly important news? Please help to fill in the role which should be played by our media by spreading the news far and wide. Thanks for caring.

With best wishes,
Fred

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1576/4904237.html

Dayton: FAA, NORAD Hid 9/11 Failures

Greg Gordon, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
July 31, 2004


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., charged Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have covered up "catastrophic failures" that left the nation vulnerable during the Sept. 11 hijackings.

"For almost three years now, NORAD officials and FAA officials have been able to hide their critical failures that left this country defenseless during two of the worst hours in our history," Dayton declared during a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing.

(several paragraphs omitted)

Dayton: 'NORAD Lied':

During the hearing, Dayton told leaders of the Sept. 11 commission, that, based on the commission's report, a NORAD chronology made public a week after the attacks was grossly misleading.

The chronology said the FAA notified the military's emergency air command of three of the hijackings while those jetliners were still airborne. Dayton cited commission findings that the FAA failed to inform NORAD about three of the planes until after they had crashed.

And, he said, a squadron of NORAD fighter planes that was scrambled was sent east over the Atlantic Ocean and was 150 miles from Washington, D.C., when the third plane struck the Pentagon -- "farther than they were before they took off."

Dayton said NORAD officials "lied to the American people, they lied to Congress and they lied to your 9/11 commission to create a false impression of competence, communication and protection of the American people."

He told Kean and Hamilton that if the commission's report is correct, President Bush "should fire whoever at FAA, at NORAD ... betrayed their public trust by not telling us the truth."

Asked about Dayton's allegation, a spokesman for Colorado Springs-based NORAD said, "We stand on our testimony to the commission" and declined to discuss the 2001 chronology.

Erin Utzinger, a spokeswoman for Dayton, said the senator "assumes the FAA knew of NORAD's coverup."

FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said the agency "has never and would never intentionally misrepresent or alter information. We worked very closely with the 9/11 commission and provided them with everything that was available to us."

Dayton told reporters that he skipped festivities at the Democratic National Committee Tuesday night and sat in his hotel room until 2:30 a.m. reading the commission report. After piecing together the section about the FAA and NORAD, he said, he could not fall asleep.

Dayton Outraged:

"I'm a strong defender of government," he said. "When government fails, it really outrages me. It just destroys peoples' trust and faith."

Using the chronology, Dayton argued that if the FAA had promptly sent a systemwide message about the hijackings, the pilot of the fourth plane seized, United Airlines Flight 93, might have been able to secure the cockpit doors and land the plane.

Passengers, including Minnesota native Tom Burnett, Jr., "could very well be alive," he said.

"This is unbelievable negligence," Dayton said. "It doesn't matter if we spend $550 billion annually on our national defense, if we reorganize our intelligence or if we restructure congressional oversight if people don't pick up the phone to call one another."

He also noted that NORAD could not find the hijacked jetliners because terrorists turned off their transponders and NORAD lacked adequate radar to locate them without that beamed signal.

Dayton said NORAD also falsely claimed that during the hijackings, it had F-16 Combat Air Patrol planes in place at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and an AWAC command ship in the air to protect the nation's capital.

Dayton, a former Minnesota state auditor, called the FAA's and NORAD's failures "the most gross incompetence and dereliction of responsibility and negligence that I've ever, under those extreme circumstances, witnessed in the public sector."

For A Revealing Timeline By The Senator, Go To:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4904189.html

In order to see this document, you will have to sign up as a member (no cost).We provide a free copy below.

Chronology:

July 31, 2004

During the hearing, Sen. Mark Dayton reconstructed the Sept. 11 commission report and NORAD's accounts this way:

• The FAA did not notify NORAD of the first hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11 for 23 minutes, just nine minutes before the plane slammed into the World Trade Center. NORAD's 2001 chronology said it was notified six minutes before impact.

• The FAA didn't notify NORAD of the second hijacking until the same minute it hit the second Trade Center tower. NORAD said it was notified nine minutes before impact.

• It took the FAA air traffic controller 15 minutes to notify the regional FAA center about the third hijacking, and the regional center another 15 minutes to inform FAA headquarters. Yet, even though two planes had hit the Trade Center, the FAA did not let NORAD know about that hijacking until after the plane hit the Pentagon. NORAD's chronology said it was informed 13 minutes before impact.

• At 9:36 a.m., eight minutes after the fourth plane was hijacked, the FAA command center phoned agency headquarters asking it to alert the military.

• Thirteen minutes later, a Command Center official told headquarters, "Uh, do we want to, uh, think about scrambling aircraft?" Headquarters replied: Oh, God, I don't know."

• The plane crashed in Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m., before NORAD was notified.

Source:
http://www.wanttoknow.info/faanoradaccused

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4. NORAD Stand-Down

The Prevention of Interceptions of the Commandeered Planes

Courtesy Of: 911Research.WTC7.Net

It is standard operating procedure (SOP) to scramble jet fighters whenever a jetliner goes off course or radio contact with it is lost. Between September 2000 and June 2001, interceptors were scrambled 67 times. 1 In the year 2000 jets were scrambled 129 times. 2

There are several elements involved in domestic air defense. The air traffic control system continuously monitors air traffic and notifies
NORAD
of any deviations of any aircraft from their flight-paths or loss of radio contact. NORAD monitors air and space traffic continuously and is prepared to react immediately to threats and emergencies. It has the authority to order units from the Air National Guard, the Air Force, or other armed services to scramble fighters in pursuit of jetliners in trouble.

Routine interception procedures were not followed on September 11th, 2001.


Layered Failures:

The air defense network had, on September 11th, predictable and effective procedures for dealing with just such an attack. Yet it failed to respond in a timely manner until after the attack was over, more than an hour and a half after it had started. The official timeline describes a series of events and mode of response in which the delays are spread out into a number of areas. There are failures upon failures, in what might be described as a strategy of layered failures, or failure in depth. The failures can be divided into four types.

Failures to report: Based on the official timeline, the FAA response times for reporting the deviating aircraft were many times longer than the prescribed times.

Failures to scramble: NORAD, once notified of the off-course aircraft, failed to scramble jets from the nearest bases.

Failures to intercept: Once airborne, interceptors failed to reach their targets because they flew at small fractions of their top speeds.

Failures to redeploy: Fighters that were airborne and within interception range of the deviating aircraft were not redeployed to pursue them.

Had not there been multiple failures of each type, one or more parts of the attack could have been thwarted. NORAD had time to protect the World Trade Center even given the unbelievably late time, 8:40, when it claims to have first been notified. It had time to protect the South Tower and Washington even given its bizarre choice of bases to scramble. And it still had ample opportunity to protect both New York City and Washington even if it insisted that all interceptors fly subsonic, simply by redeploying airborne fighters.

Failures To Report:

Comparing NORAD's timeline to reports from air traffic control reveals inexplicable delays in the times the FAA took to report deviating aircraft. The delays include an 18-minute delay in reporting Flight 11 and a 39-minute delay in reporting Flight 77. The delays are made all the more suspicious given that, in each case, the plane failed to respond to communications, was off-course, and had stopped emitting its IFF signal.

Failures To Scramble:

No plausible explanation has been provided for failing to scramble interceptors in a timely fashion from bases within easy range to protect the September 11th targets. Fighters that were dispatched were scrambled from distant bases. Early in the attack, when Flight 11 had turned directly south toward New York City, it was obvious that New York City and the World Trade Center, and Washington D.C. would be likely targets. Yet fighters were not scrambled from the bases near the targets. They were only scrambled from distant bases. Moreover there were no redundant or backup scrambles.

New York City:

Flight 11 had been flying south toward New York City from about 8:30 AM. Yet no interceptors were scrambled from nearby Atlantic City, or La Guardia, or from Langley, Virginia. Numerous other bases were not ordered to scramble fighters.

Washington D.C.:

No interceptors were scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base to protect the capital, at least not before the Pentagon was hit. Andrews Air Force Base had two squadrons of fighters on alert, and is only 10 miles from the Pentagon.

Failures to Intercept:

Even though the interceptors were not dispatched from the most logical bases, the ones that were scrambled still had adequate time to reach their assigned planes. Why didn't they? Because they were only flying at a small fraction of their top speed. That is the conclusion implicit in NORAD's timeline.

Otis To The WTC:

The first base to finally scramble interceptors was Otis in Falmouth, Massachusetts, at 8:52, about a half-hour after Flight 11 was taken over. This was already eight minutes after Flight 11 hit the North Tower, and just 9 minutes before Flight 175 hit the South Tower.

According to NORAD, at the time of the South Tower Impact the two F-15s from Otis were still 71 miles away. Otis is 153 miles east-northeast of the WTC. That means the F-15s were flying at:

(153 miles - 71 miles)/(9:03 - 8:52) = 447 mph

That is around 23.8% of their top speed of 1875 mph.

At 9:11 the F-15s finally reached the World Trade Center. Their average speed for the trip was:

153/(9:11 - 8:52) = 483 mph

That is around 25.8% of their top speed.

Langley To The Pentagon:

The F-16s from Langley reached the Pentagon at 9:49. It took them 19 minutes to reach Washington D.C. from Langley AFB, which is about 130 miles to the south. That means the F-16s were flying at:

130 miles/(9:49 - 9:30) = 410.5 mph

That is around 27.4% of their top speed of 1500 mph.

Andrews To The Pentagon:

Andrews Air Force Base, located on the outskirts of the capital, is just over 10 miles from the Pentagon. One would have expected interceptors to be scrambled to protect the capital within a few minutes of the 8:15 loss of contact with Flight 11. Instead, no fighters from Andrews reached the Pentagon until 9:49, several minutes after the assault.

Failures To Redeploy:

Fighters that were in the air when the attack started were not redeployed to intercept the deviating planes. When fighters scrambled to protect Manhattan arrived there too late, they were not redeployed to protect the capital even though they had plenty of time to reach it before the Pentagon was hit.

Long Island To Manhattan:

Two F-15s flying off the coast of Long Island were not redeployed to Manhattan until after the second tower was hit. 3


WTC To The Pentagon:

By the time the two F-15s from Otis reached Manhattan, the only jetliner still flying with its IFF transponder off had just made a 180-degree turn over southern Ohio and had been headed for Washington D.C. for 12 minutes. It was still 34 minutes before the Pentagon was hit. Had the fighters been sent to protect the capital, they could have traveled the approximately 300 miles in:

300 miles/1875 mph = 9.6 minutes

They even could have made it to the capital in time to protect the Pentagon if they had continued to fly at only 500 mph.

References:

1. Military Now Notified Immediately of Unusual Air Traffic Events, AP, 8/12/02 [cached]

2. Norad on Heightened Alert, 9/13/01 [cached]

3. 'I Thought It Was the Start of World War III', Cape Cod Times, 8/21/02 [cached]
page last modified: 2006-08-12

Source: http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/analysis/norad/

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