Bush inaction: Not just 7 minutes

[stray cat]

It is clear from the report of the 9-11 commission that "Farenheight 9-11" did indeed have its facts wrong. Bush was inactive for much longer than 7 minutes on 9-11.

At 8:55 am Bush was told that a commercial airliner had hit the world trade center. At 9:05 Andrew Card told the president "a second plane hit the second tower, America is under attack. Another 7 minutes passes as Bush claims to project calm and remains seated.

At 9:15 he watched television to see the event. Up until 9:30 the attention of the president was on his address to the nation.

At 10:20 the president authorized the shoot down of aircraft if necessary.

"The defence of US airspace was not conducted in accordance with pre-existing training and protocols" because America's leaders did not lead. It was improvized by civilians.

The FAA acted independently to ground all aircraft.

Cheny bypassed the chain of command (the sec of defence and the president) to authorize a shooting down of civilian aircraft but he did it wrong and only thought the authorization went through.

Langley pilots were scrambled from Norad but were never briefed on why they were scrambled. The lead pilot was under the impression he was looking for cruise missiles from Russia.

It appears that the only thing Bush did between 8:55 and 10:20 was his address to the nation. This is while our nation was still under attack from hijacked planes and there were still opportunities to avert further attacks.

[Lefta Dissenter]

1. where's the link to that

great timeline of September 11th?

It's horrifying, but a necessary truth that all should read and re-read.

[RedSock]

2. it's also a book -- published this week

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/project.jsp?project=911_project