What SHOULD HAVE happened on 9/11.

[stickdog]

The full article this came from is now in the San Mateo Times archive section. If you'd like to purchase it for yourself, here is url:

San Mateo Times Archive Link

Or you can find a reproduction of the article here:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/display.asp?webtag=flt93crash&msg=789.1

Securing the skies above the Bay
Out of sight and at high speeds, U.S. jets patrol American airspace, guarding against potential attacks

By Sean Holstege - STAFF WRITER

Tensions ran high inside the hollowed-out mountain headquarters of NORAD during a massive war game, when the reports streamed in: Russian warplanes were mustering near U.S. soil without warning. This was not part of NORAD's continent-spanning exercise. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command repositioned aircraft closer to Russia, keeping one wary eye on the Bear and the other on its own ongoing drill. This was already a red-letter morning. But the worst was coming.

The time: before 8:48 a.m., Eastern time. The date: September 11, 2001.

Nearly 850 miles away, Maj. Rob Swertfager was listening to AC/DC's ``Back in Black'' CD as he drove to work at the Fresno Air National Guard Base, when he pulled up to a stoplight on Highway 41. In the car next to him a woman sobbed. In other cars horror-stricken men were agape. Swertfager flipped on the radio and knew his life, his mission and his country had changed forever.

At the Fresno base of the 144th Flight Wing, his ground crew was loading missiles on his F-16 jet as they told him what had happened to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The wing commander climbed the stepladder to his cockpit and told him he would face a test no one had ever contemplated and not to let emotions interfere. One minute later the scramble horn blared and he took off in the first 9/11 air defense mission over California. His commander's exact words echoed in his helmet as he burned at supersonic speed toward San Francisco. His mission: intercept a civilian jetliner that was refusing to obey the Federal Aviation Administration control tower.


Yes, this is a bs puff-up-the-military article. But it's funny to when you compare these accounts to what actually happened in the part of the country that was actually being attacked.

[DenverDem]

1. NORAD works great, it was stood down by busholini inc MIHOP traitors.

These treasonous bastards must be prosecuted with extreme prejudice.

[RH]

5. Please remind us.

Apart from 9/11 what is the extent of Norad's record to date for shooting down civilian aircraft?

[DenverDem]

6. When has it been appropriate to do that other than 9/11/01?

They have a great record for chasing down civilian aircraft that have gone unexplainably awry, however.

What's your point?

[BeFree]

7. The point, you ask?

Seems as if some here are here for an education. Seems there are a lot of people who think everthing was hunky-dory with everything that day and they need an education.

Or it could be that they are here to keep the truth covered-up.

Norad never had reason to shoot down a private plane before 9/11, except for the one that hit the Whitehouse in '98.

The fact is that Norad, on 9/11 was confused... by what? Who knows....there are some theories.

[RH]

8. Geat record?

Where is this great record?

[punpirate]

2. Well, if the system had really worked...

... the FBI and CIA would have gotten wind of the plan from overseas and domestic sources, identified the phony flying-school students, had them checked at the gate, boxcutters found and the perpetrators arrested.

If.

[DenverDem]

3. Like Clinton's intelligence agencies did with the Millenium plots et al.

Success starts at the top, just like failure.

[punpirate]

4. Good example.... n/t

[gbwarming]

9. What should have happened?

Here's a story about a pilot driving to the base with no knowledge of the events unfolding in NY. Obviously he is not responding to an emergency call. When he arrives his crew tells him about the pentagon - so it is after 9:37(?) ET. Then some time later they scramble.

Why is this what SHOULD have happened? F-15s from Otis took off 50+ minutes earlier.

Edit: I'm with punpirate on this one: * should have made the pdb a priority at the pig ranch. Dick should have convened his anti-terrorism team. Condi should have remembered the anti aircraft missiles they set up for the G8.