http://www.tomflocco.com/bush_may_invoke_9.htm
Bush May Invoke 911 Executive Privelege, Secrecy
Proof of prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks is continuing to
trickle out of the purportedly leak-proof White House, as more
corroborative chickens of 9/11 are coming home to roost -- even as
President Bush is considering invoking executive privilege to keep the
clamps on evidence that could alter the political landscape for the
nations conquering top-gun.
However, for those still concerned about the mysteries of September
11, such issues as: 1) poorly documented visas -- issued fraudulently
by immigration officials failing to follow the law, 2) restrained U.S.
military air defense protocols, 3) millions of dollars in suspicious
pre-attack stock market insider trading profits as yet unclaimed and
unrevealed within a still-unpublicized Securities Exchange Commission
9/11 Control List, 4) redacted presidential intelligence documents,
plus other unanswered questions directly related to prior knowledge of
the attacks all seem fair game -- given the explosive evidence.
Newly-revealed statements from a CIA July, 2001 presidential
intelligence briefing -- when placed within the context of planes
crashing into buildings, one-by-one on September 11 -- should bring to
mind Bushs reactions that morning at the Sarasota, Florida elementary
school. But the public has never heard the reason for the Presidents
lack of swift and decisive action at the school.
The intelligence committee staff director, Eleanor Hill -- a former
federal prosecutor and Pentagon Inspector General -- was blocked at
the last minute from divulging precisely who in the White House
received the July briefing, classified by CIA Director George Tenet.
According to Newsweek, a source said one of the recipients of the
still-unpublicized July briefing which foretold the 9/11 attacks was
Bush himself.
But Hill was only permitted to say senior government officials. And
no one has testified regarding who exerted the pressure on the staff
director. The President has not testified. And the congressional
hearings are over.
The weekly periodical also revealed that the congressional report
names names, gives dates, and provides a body of new information
about the handling of many other crucial intelligence briefings --
including one in early August 2001 given to national-security advisor
Condoleezza Rice that discussed Al Qaeda operations within the United
States and the possibility that the groups members might seek to
hijack airplanes.
National Security Adviser Dr. Condoleezza Rice briefing reporters at
the May 16, 2002 damage-control news conference in response to the
Bush Knew headline in the New York Post. Afterward, the White House
and CNN transcripts erased the name of the Pakistani Intelligence
General Mahmud Ahmad who had met with State Department officials just
days prior to the attacks, but shortly after sending a $100,000. check
to lead hijacker Mohammed Atta. (Photo: 2002, Reuters Limited)
The astonishing validation of presidential prior knowledge that a
major attack would occur against the American people on U.S. soil is
only superceded by still-hidden evidence regarding the specificity of
the details, how the information was obtained, and the complete list
of pre-9/11 meetings and briefings recipients, even as supposedly
redacted papers were sent to the peoples elected representatives --
thus far mum about the subject.
THERE HAS BEEN A COVER UP OF THIS
That is, everyone except Senator Bob Graham of Florida. Our phone
interview yesterday with Paul Anderson, Grahams communications
director, confirmed the overnight Newsweek Online story revealing
Grahams ire over the fact that George W.s lawyers are currently
determining whether the president will invoke executive privilege to
prevent critical 9/11 evidence from reaching the public via the 9/11
Commission.
Anderson told us I am unable to tell you whether Senator Graham
(former co-chairman of the Joint Senate-House 9/11 Intelligence
Committee) has even seen the complete and un-redacted versions of the
two (pre-9/11) presidential briefing documents to which you refer,
adding that the senator has been fighting for [evidence]
declassification since the end of February -- after we had waited
since filing our original classified first pass on the (800+ page)
report last December 20.
Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) It will be interesting to see whether
Presidential candidate Graham considers all the 9/11 evidence and
testimony important enough to fight for the publics right to know --
in the face of a possible presidential invocation of Executive
Privilege regarding document suppression.
Anderson also said that since late February, we have been on the
second pass, and Senator Graham has been urging (FBI) Director
(Robert) Mueller and (CIA) Director (George) Tenet to help expedite
the release of all or as much information as possible regarding
meetings, briefing papers, and other documents.
According to the Newsweek report (5/1/2003), Graham had claimed that
There has been a cover up of this. His co-chairman, Rep. Porter Goss
(R-FL) added I find this process horrendously frustrating, offering
further that senior intelligence officials said things in public
hearings that they [administration officials] dont want us to put in
the report.
Thats not something I can rationally accept without further public
explanation, Goss said. Our three phone calls yesterday, attempting
to seek comment from Gosss press aide, Julie Almacy, were unreturned.
When we asked Anderson what Graham would do if he disagreed with
Bushs lawyers regarding what evidence Americans have a right to know
about, the senate aide told us I cant tell you at this time whether
the Senator will make a major issue out of either invocation of
presidential executive privilege or withholding what he considers key
evidence.
However, in a portent for down-the-road 9/11 machinations, Anderson
added the Presidents attorneys have told the Intelligence Committee
that their consideration of the second pass will be delayed until
the end of May [5 months since the original submission] -- and Senator
Graham has complained repeatedly and publicly about this.
That more media and public inquiries regarding what is being hidden
and why it is being hidden is assured once the more public 9/11
Commission hearings commence this summer.
BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX
The Associated Press confirmed on May 22, 2002, that members of
congress only received portions of the Phoenix Memo [revealing that
Middle Eastern nationals were enrolling in U.S. flight schools];
moreover, reporter Christopher Newton said that the memos author, FBI
agent Kenneth Williams, had urged FBI headquarters in Washington to
canvass flight schools across the country to identify possible Arab
students.
But FBI middle managers decided late in the summer of 2001, just prior
to the attacks, to set Williams plan aside because his memo was
based on information they considered speculative..., said a
government official, speaking on condition of anonymity -- also
according to AP.
Every indication was that the traffic light went from yellow to red
and the FBI just kept driving, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), said on
ABC Good Morning America on May 22, 2002, adding They seemed to
ignore what was a very clear warning.
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), said that FBI Director Mueller said he
saw the (Phoenix) memo shortly after the attacks but still could not
explain why it didnt catch the attention of top bureau officials. And
Attorney General John Ashcroft learned of the general topic of the
memo in the days after the September 11 attacks but was not briefed
extensively on the memo until several weeks ago [7 months after the
attacks], a Justice Department official told AP.
All this, as Floridian Dan Hopsicker (Madcowprod.com, 12-26-2001),
began breaking new ground regarding Rudi Dekkers and Wally Hilliard,
partners in the Venice, Florida flight schools where most of the Saudi
terrorists developed their airplane hijacking skills. Hopsicker
reported that the day after the attacks the local police had collected
all the files detailing Dekkers relationships and business with the
hijackers. COME FLY WITH ME
Curiously however, one local law enforcement official said, The FBI
took all our files, everything. Then he added, they loaded two Ryder
trucks right outside that (police station) window, then drove them
right onto a C-130 military cargo plane at Sarasota airport which flew
out with [Governor] Jeb Bush aboard. And so went all the evidence.
Strangely -- and Governor Jeb Bush notwithstanding, directors and
subordinates of government entities such as the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS), Justice Department (DOJ) -- and current Bush Administration
officials and cabinet members -- have not publicly testified regarding
their activities, discussions and meetings in the months and days
leading up to September 11.
If the matter were not so tragic, the Sunshine State journalists
recent reference to Bin Laden Airlines, and that the FBI pointedly
said -- early -- they knew about terrorists rotating through Rudi
Dekkers flight school in Venice, Florida, one might consider it a
sick joke; but Hopsicker draws a startling comparison:
48 hours after the slaying of John Fitzgerald Kennedy a CIA pilot
named David Ferrie was under suspicion of participation in the
assassination conspiracy. Thirty years later Joe Pesci plays Ferrie in
Oliver Stones JFK the movie.
48 hours after the September 11th attack, a flight school owner named
Rudi Dekkers, known to have trained virtually the entire terrorist
pilot cadre, and a possible CIA asset, seemed impervious to suspicion.
What suspicions? He was being booked onto Larry King Live.
But given the staggering evidence, the question is begged as to why no
one is calling for subpoenaed testimony of the unidentified senior
administration officials.
This, just as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
United States begins to expend its $3 million budget -- financially
restricted by the Presidents congressional majority; while by
comparison, the government spent over $47 million investigating the
sexual shenanigans between Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton.
Former Indiana congressman and 9/11 Commission member Tim Roemer,
tried to review transcripts of some of the joint intelligence
committees closed-door hearings last week, according to Newsweek, but
he was denied access because the commission staff had agreed to a
White House request to allow its lawyers to first review the material
to determine if the president wants to invoke executive privilege to
keep the material out of the panels hands.
RACING SLOWLY TO THE RESCUE
Perhaps the single most damning indictment on September 11 was the
failure of normal United States military protocol to be followed as
standard procedure. The testimony of victim family member Mindy
Kleinberg, presented on March 31, 2003 before the National 9/11
Commission is so articulate that it will likely stand as a permanent
U.S. historical document in and of itself:
Prior to 9/11, FAA and Department of Defense Manuals gave clear,
comprehensive instructions on how to handle everything from minor
emergencies to full blown hijackings.
These protocols were in place and were practiced regularly for a
good reason -- with heavily trafficked air space; airliners without
radio and transponder contact are collisions and/or calamities waiting
to happen.
Those protocols dictate that in the event of an emergency, the FAA is
to notify NORAD. Once that notification takes place, it is then the
responsibility of NORAD to scramble fighter-jets to intercept the
errant plane(s). It is a matter of routine procedure for fighter- jets
to intercept commercial airliners in order to regain contact with
the pilot.
If that weren't protection enough, on September 11th, NEADS (or the
North East Air Defense System dept of NORAD) was several days into a
semi-annual exercise known as Vigilant Guardian. This meant that our
North East Air Defense system was fully staffed. In short, key
officers were manning the operation battle center, fighter jets were
cocked, loaded, and carrying extra gas on board.
Lucky for the terrorists that none of this mattered on the morning of
September 11th. Let me illustrate using just flight 11 as an example:
American Airline Flight 11 departed from Boston Logan Airport at 7:45
a.m. The last routine communication between ground control and the
plane occurred at 8:13 a.m. Between 8:13 and 8:20 a.m. Flight 11
became unresponsive to ground control. Additionally, radar indicated
that the plane had deviated from its assigned path of flight. Soon
thereafter, transponder contact was lost -- (although planes can still
be seen on radar - even without their transponders).
Two Flight 11 airline attendants had separately called American
Airlines reporting a hijacking, the presence of weapons, and the
infliction of injuries on passengers and crew. At this point, it would
seem abundantly clear that Flight 11 was an emergency.
Yet, according to NORAD's official timeline, NORAD was not contacted
until 20 minutes later at 8:40 a.m. Tragically the fighter jets were
not deployed until 8:52 a.m. -- a full 32 minutes after the loss of
contact with flight 11.
Why was there a delay in the FAA notifying NORAD? Why was there a
delay in NORAD scrambling fighter jets? How is this possible when
NEADS was fully staffed with planes at the ready and monitoring our
Northeast airspace?
Flight's 175, 77 and 93 all had this same repeat pattern of delays in
notification and delays in scrambling fighter jets. Delays that are
unimaginable considering a plane had, by this time, already hit the
World Trade Center.
Even more baffling for us is the fact that the fighter jets were not
scrambled from the closest air force bases. For example, for the
flight that hit the Pentagon, the jets were scrambled from Langley Air
Force in Hampton, Virginia rather than Andrews Air Force Base right
outside D.C. As a result, Washington skies remained wholly unprotected
on the morning of September 11th. At 9:41 a.m., one hour and 11
minutes after the first plane was hijack confirmed by NORAD, Flight 77
crashed into the Pentagon. The fighter jets were still miles away.
Why?
So the hijackers luck had continued. On September 11th both the FAA
and NORAD deviated from standard emergency operating procedures. Who
were the people that delayed the notification? Have they been
questioned? In addition, the interceptor planes or fighter jets did
not fly at their maximum speed.
Had the belatedly scrambled fighter jets flown at their maximum speed
of engagement, MACH-12, they would have reached NYC and the Pentagon
within moments of their deployment, intercepted the hijacked airliners
before they could have hit their targets, and undoubtedly saved
lives.
GOVERNMENT BY SECRECY
While the Bush Administrations seeming penchant for secrecy is of
itself quite extraordinary, it is only a continuing pattern of
procedure; for on November 1, 2001 -- 7 weeks after the 9/11 attacks
-- President Bush signed Executive Order 13233. The Order ends some 27
years of Congressional and judicial efforts to make Presidential
papers and records available.
Unchallenged by weak congressional oversight, President Bush has
effectively used his executive power to deteriorate public disclosure
of public presidential documents, while essentially creating new law.
It started with his gubernatorial papers, letters, and notes --
accumulated during six years as governor of Texas. All papers were
quickly moved to his fathers presidential library in College Station.
And since all materials archived there are under federal jurisdiction,
they are exempt from the Texas Open Records Act which requires a
response within 10 days after a request for records. This is now an
impossibility.
JOHN DEAN, Former White House Counsel
In an November 9, 2001 essay for Findlaw.com, John Dean, former Nixon
personal counsel during Watergate, offered a revealing look at Bushs
executive secrecy:
"The mystical veil of 'national security' has been cast over much of
the Bush Administration. There were the secret arrests of
terror-related suspects (currently over 1,000 publicly unknown
people). There was the expansion of the wiretap granting powers of a
secret federal court hidden within the Department of Justice. There
was, and continues to be, an apparent policy of precluding news
organizations and congressional leaders from access to anything other
than managed and generic news about Afghanistan."
The Executive Order suggests that President Bush not only does not
want Americans to know what he is doing, but he also does not want to
worry that historians and others will someday find out....He has
sought to significantly modify the law, and made its procedures far
more complex, cumbersome and restrictive. In doing so, he has exceeded
his executive powers under the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
"President Bush has also shifted the burden from the former President
to the person seeking the material. Under the Executive Order, the
person seeking material must show that he should be given it; it is no
longer necessary for the former President to show why material must
not be disclosed.
The new Executive Order also takes the Archivist of the United States
out of the role of deciding if a former Presidents invocation of
[executive] privilege should or should not be honored. That role is
now assigned to the incumbent President.
The new Executive Order creates an elaborate procedure for an
incumbent President to block his predecessor from releasing documents.
In addition, under Bushs order, a former President can indefinitely
block release of his material, which is not possible under existing
law.
Another added benefit for former Presidents is this: When the
incumbent President agrees with the former President about his
decision to not release records, the incumbent President (through the
Department of Justice) will defend the privilege against attack. That
saves the former President what can be significant legal expenses
[using public funds] for attorneys fees to contest the case [such as
documents related to 9/11] in court.
Given the fact that soft congressional oversight has permitted the
President to exert total control over all his documents, some may
question ulterior motives -- if one listens to John Dean: I can
assure you from first-hand experience that a President acting secretly
usually does not have the best interest of Americans in mind. It is
his own personal interest that is on his mind instead.
The American people, however, must in the end rely upon their elected
leaders -- soft as they may seem -- regarding rebalancing the rules
and procedures governing the tax-paying publics right to know.
For without a strong, viable and un-intimidated legislative branch,
such a legitimate need for high-ranking individual testimony,
documents, and meeting notes which respond to thousands of questions
connected to the September 11 attacks on America will never be
achieved. Instead of full sunlight, Congress opted to punt the ball
over to a Commission.
Nevertheless, it is still tragic that even the 9/11 Independent
Commission has built-in conflicts of interest, yet-to-be revealed --
let alone the surety of many tied subpoena votes.
Oh, that the United States Congress had carried out its oversight
responsibilities in full view of the American people, instead of
allowing public distrust and suspicion to creep into the mindset of so
many citizens who feel that theyve been had -- like a Hollywood
movie script -- regarding the truth surrounding the events of
September 11, 2001.
*****************
Critical Time Frame Illustrating How The Most Powerful Nation in the
World Was Left Totally Vulnerable for 59 Minutes (Unable to Protect
Even Its Own Military Headquarters), While Its President Wasted
Precious, Potentially Life-saving Time As the United States Was Under
Attack on September 11, 2001 -- This, in Spite of Emerging Evidence of
Multiple Pre-Attack Presidential Intelligence Briefings and Meetings:
8:13 a.m.: Shortly after flight controllers ask Flight 11 to climb to
35,000 feet, the transponder stops transmitting. The transponder is
the electronic device that identifies the jet on the controller's
screen, gives its exact location and altitude, and also allows a
four-digit emergency hijack code to be sent. Air traffic manager Glenn
Michael says later, "We considered it at that time to be a possible
hijacking." ["When given permission to climb to 35,000 feet," AP,
8/12/02, "8:13:47 46R: AAL11, now climb maintain FL350," New York
Times, 10/16/01, shortly after trying emergency frequencies, Christian
Science Monitor, 9/13/01] "Just moments" after radio contact is lost
(which is discussed by flight controllers at 8:15), the transponder is
turned off. [MSNBC, 9/15/01] NORAD officially says it is not notified
the plane is hijacked until 8:40 - 27 minutes later, though one NORAD
employee contradicts this (see 8:31 a.m. and 8:40 a.m.). [NORAD,
9/18/01] Colonel Robert Marr, head of NORAD's Northeast Air Defense
Sector, later claims the transponder is turned off some time after
8:30. [ABC News, 9/11/02]
8:38 a.m.: Boston air traffic center notifies NORAD that American
Airlines Flight 11 has been hijacked.
8:46:26 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11 impacts the north side of
the North Tower 9:01 a.m.: Bush later makes the following statement.
"And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw
an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I used to
fly myself, and I said, 'There's one terrible pilot.' And I said, 'It
must have been a horrible accident.' But I was whisked off from there
-- I didn't have much time to think about it." Bush could not have
possibly seen the first plane (American Airlines Flight 11) hit the
WTC, because the only video showing this was not shown on television
till later in the day. So how could he have possibly seen and said
this?
9:02:54 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175 impacts the south side of the
South Tower of the WTC. NORAD says that when United Airlines Flight
175 impacts the WTC at 9:02:54, the F-15's from Otis are still 71
miles away. This means their average flight speed was only 23.9% of
their top speed in trying to intercept United Airlines Flight 175.
Otis is 153 miles from WTC. F-15's have a top speed of 1875+ MPH.
Minus 71 miles left from 153 miles equals 82 miles covered in the 11
minutes from 8:52 take-off to 9:03. 60 minutes divided by 11 minutes
equals 5.45, multiply this by the 82 miles covered, equals 447.3 MPH.
divided by 1875 MPH equals 23.9% of their top speed. How could these
two F-15s possibly be going less than one quarter of their top speed
in trying to intercept United Airlines Flight 175?
The following passages are from a BBC article published on August 30,
2002. Two of the pilots patrolling northeast America told the program
how they struggled to get to New York as fast as possible after the
first plane had hit the World Trade Center. Pilots "Duff" and "Nasty"
recalled they were only minutes away when the second plane hit the
towers. Pilot Duff said: "For a long time I wondered what would have
happened if we had been scrambled in time. "We've been over the flight
a thousand times in our minds and I don't know what we could have done
to get there any quicker." Perhaps if they flew a little faster than
23.9% of their top speed is how. Will Duff and Nasty publicly
testify?
9:05 a.m.: Andrew Card walks up to Bush while he is listening to a
Goat Story with 16 second graders in Sandra Kay Danielss class at
Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Card whispers
in his ear "A second plane has hit the World Trade Center. America is
under attack." Bush (commander-in-chief?) keeps listening to this Goat
Story with these children for at least 7 minutes, and perhaps as long
as 18 minutes. Why Bush didn't excuse himself from these children
right away, and immediately address this national emergency, is
totally unexplainable.
There is no way this should have happened. What of course should have
happened, was as soon as the secret service found out about United
Airlines Flight 175 impacting the WTC (now knowing it was a
"terrorist" act), they would have immediately grabbed Bush and brought
him to an undisclosed location. There is no way the secret service
leaves Bush in a place (Emma E. Booker Elementary School) where
everyone knows he is. Remember, secret service agents moved Vice
President Cheney to a secure location immediately. This was a Military
Stand Down.
9:37 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 is lost from radar screens and
impacts the western side of the Pentagon. The section of the Pentagon
hit consists mainly of newly renovated, unoccupied offices. The
Pentagon says American Airlines Flight 77 hits them at 9:37. Other
published reports have American Airlines Flight 77 striking at 9:40 to
9:43; The New York Times even published 9:45.
8:13 a.m. to 9:37 a.m. = 84 Minutes of Vulnerability
The 9/11 Commission failed to place the two most pre-eminent
researchers on the subject of the September 11 attacks on their staff,
opting instead to pick politically-connected staffers -- even in the
face of Paul and Marks demonstrated and incredible research. View
their complete work below. There is absolutely nothing on the internet
to compare with it for those who desire to know the timeline-oriented
facts about 9/11:
Paul Thompson 9/11 Time-Line:
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/
Mark Elsis 9/11 Time-Line:
http://www.911timeline.net/
Thanks to Paul and Mark for the above, partial 9/11 timeline and
commentary.