PEOC

Norman Mineta: Mistaken Identity

Concerning Norman Mineta’s testimony about being with Cheney in the PEOC---

Briefly, the story is that Cheney was getting updates about a flight headed for DC from a “young man” who stated the plane was 50, 30, then 10 miles out.

Most people will assume that Mineta is referring to AA77, not UA93. There is an attempt by the media and others to shift away from AA77 towards UA93. By doing this they are able to push the time ahead and protect Cheney from criticism about a shoot down or a stand down. But this has some seriously fatal flaws.

See this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XY2pMZl7yw

At mark ~:50 he is talking about the young man describing a plane that is 50 miles out.

At mark ~1:00 Mineta is on the phone with Monte Belger who tells him the target is somewhere beyond Great Falls. In other words about 25 miles up river from DC. He says twice they cannot tell the speed.** Then he says they lost the bogey somewhere between Rosslyn and Reagan Airport. Both Great Falls and Rosslyn are North of the Pentagon.

Here is the same thing from Belger:

"Do the Orders Still Stand?" Who was he?

He seems to be Naval Aide Douglas Cochrane. I'll get to how he is identified in a moment. First.....

The 9-11 commission has this scenario in the PEOC, instead of the one described by N Mineta.....

"At some time between 10:10 and 10:15, a military aide told the Vice President and others that the aircraft was 80 miles out. Vice President Cheney was asked for authority to engage the aircraft. His reaction was described by Scooter Libby as quick and decisive, "in about the time it takes a batter to decide to swing." The Vice President authorized fighter aircraft to engage the inbound plane. He told us he based this authorization on his earlier conversation with the President. The military aide returned a few minutes later, probably between 10:12 and 10:18, and said the aircraft was 60 miles out. He again asked for authorization to engage. The Vice President again said yes"
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch1.htm

The Trauma of 9/11 Is No Excuse By Richard A. Clarke

Richard Clarke, Bush's Counterterrorism Czar and a holdover from the Clinton Administration, weighs in on the Bush Administration prior to and after 9/11, and recent attempts by Rice and Cheney to spin the events and their actions. Clarke gives his own spin, essentially labeling Bush Administration principals as negligent, but not calling for accountability, merely a slight correction of perspective and course. Clarke, in his book and in testimony, is one of the people who placed Cheney in the PEOC while the attacks were in progress (Against All Enemies, 2-19). Here he recalls, "Once in the bomb shelter, Cheney assembled his team while the crisis managers on the National Security Council staff coordinated the government response by video conference from the Situation Room." and quotes Cheney's recent admission that he was, without noting that this contradicts Cheney's and the 9/11 Commission's timeline; "'I'll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities,' Cheney said in his recent speech."

James Ridgeway: Cheney's Bunker Mentality

http://www.motherjones.com/print/24017

Cheney's Bunker Mentality
By James Ridgeway | Sun May 24, 2009 9:43 PM PST

Say what you will about Dick Cheney, at least he's consistent. While he was in office, the Vice President made a practice of exploiting the fear and loss wrought by the 9/11 attacks to advance his own political agenda—and he's still doing it now. During his speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday, according to Dana Milbank's calculations in the Washington Post, "Cheney used the word 'attack' 19 times, 'danger' and 'threat' six times apiece, and 9/11 an impressive 27 times."

In this putative rebuttal to Obama speech on national security, Cheney described how he spent the morning of 9/11 "in a fortified White House command post," receiving "the reports and images that so many Americans remember from that day," and then declared:

In the years since, I've heard occasional speculation that I'm a different man after 9/11. I wouldn't say that. But I'll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities.

Cheney Corroborates His Early Arrival In The Bunker On 9/11

Source: 911truth.org

Hat tip to simuvac who caught this here (no, he wasn't the source for Dr. Scott). - Jon

May 22, 2009
Peter Dale Scott
911Truth.org

Here is an excerpt from the text of what Cheney said at the American Enterprise Institute on May 21, 2009:

"For me, one of the defining experiences was the morning of 9/11 itself. As you might recall, I was in my office in that first hour, when radar caught sight of an airliner heading toward the White House at 500 miles an hour. That was Flight 77, the one that ended up hitting the Pentagon. With the plane still inbound, Secret Service agents came into my office and said we had to leave, now. A few moments later I found myself in a fortified White House command post somewhere down below.

There in the bunker came the reports and images that so many Americans remember from that day - word of the crash in Pennsylvania, the final phone calls from hijacked planes, the final horror for those who jumped to their death to escape burning alive. In the years since, I've heard occasional speculation that I'm a different man after 9/11. I wouldn't say that. But I'll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities."

-- http://www.realclearpolitics.com/printpage/?url=http://www.realclearpolitics (Emphasis added)
The first radar sighting of a plane approaching Washington was at 9:21 AM. In other words Cheney has confirmed his first account (and ours) that he was taken from his office earlier than 9:36 AM (as claimed in the 9/11 Report, p. 39), and first arrived in the bunker much earlier than "shortly before 10:00; perhaps at 9:58" (9/11 Report, p. 40, citing Cheney interview with Newsweek, November 19, 2001). There were of course no images to watch for some time from the crash in Pennsylvania, as opposed to the Pentagon.

What Cheney said yesterday adds nothing to his first account on September 16, 2001, but clearly discredits his second conflicting account for Newsweek two months later. (Cf. Peter Dale Scott, The Road to 9/11, 197-98, 200-01).

William Safire hinted White House “mole” may have aided 9-11 terrorists

Today's conspiracies were yesterday's facts on the ground
Part III
William Safire hinted White House “mole” may have aided 9-11 terrorists

By Peter Duveen

PETER'S NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2009—The discovery in my personal archives of issues of The New York Times and the New York Post from the days immediately following September 11, 2001 has become the basis for a several-part series on early reportage of the events of that day. The use of the original issues as opposed to electronic media has the advantage of easy reference, and absolute reliability regarding the source. This third essay will explore the remarkable drama surrounding the activities of President George W. Bush on that fateful day. We find that once New York Times columnist William Safire came into possession of the facts related to Bush’s 10-hour absence from Washington, he concluded that a “mole” in the White House may have cooperated with the 9-11 terrorists. He is thus joined at the hip with Robert Novak, who came to a similar conclusion in his column of the same day.

David Ray Griffin: When did Cheney enter the underground bunker?

9/11 Contradictions: When Did Cheney Enter the Underground Bunker?

by David Ray Griffin

With regard to the morning of 9/11, everyone agrees that at some time after 9:03 (when the South Tower of the World Trade Center was struck) and before 10:00, Vice President Dick Cheney went down to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), sometimes simply called the “bunker,” under the east wing of the White House. Everyone also agrees that, once there, Cheney was in charge---that he was either making decisions or relaying decisions from President Bush. But there is enormous disagreement as to exactly when Cheney entered the PEOC.

New video from Finland: "The Lost Flight"

The Lost Flight -- Who Knew What and When About Flight AA77 On 9/11?


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7140292755378838617&hl=en

The video compares the two main versions of what was known about Flight AA77 on 9/11 before it allegedly crashed into the Pentagon. The versions are

(1) that there was prior awareness for up to about one hour before the crash about the flight at least with the military and the FAA and in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, and

(2) that the FAA lost the flight for 36 minutes and did not inform the military or anyone else about it until four minutes before the crash.

Three important statements by former Transportation Secreatry Norman Mineta are shown in support of the first version. However, the viewer is encouraged to make her/his own conclusions. The material is mainly from the 9/11 Commission's video archives and other public sources and its use constitutes an instance of "fair use" of this material.

Mineta's Testimony CONFIRMED

http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2007/03/minetas-testimony-confirmed.html

When faced with former Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta's testimony -- about Cheney's stand-down order as the plane approached the Pentagon -- Defenders of the official story have tried to discredit Mineta by saying that he got his times mixed up.

Specifically, Mineta claims:

"When I got to the White House, it was being evacuated. I met briefly with Richard Clark, a National Security Council staff member, who had no new information. Then the Secret Service escorted me down to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, otherwise known as the PEOC."

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