Could the Attack Have Been Prevented?
By Illarion Bykov and Jared Israel at www.tenc.net , November 14, 2001

Andrews Air Force Base is a huge military installation just ten miles from the Pentagon .

On September 11 there were two entire squadrons of combat-ready fighter jets at Andrews. Their job was to protect 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 tried to protect the city.

The FAA, NORAD and the military have cooperative procedures by which fighter jets automatically intercept commercial aircraft under emergency conditions. These procedures were not followed .

Air Force officials and others have tried to explain away the failures:

Air Force Lt. Col. Vic Warzinski, another Pentagon spokesman said, "The Pentagon was simply not aware that this aircraft was coming our way, and I doubt prior to Tuesday's event, anyone would have expected anything like that here."
-'Newsday', September 23, 2001

Using information from the mass media and official websites, we will show that this is lie.

Some of what happened on 9/11, such as planes flying into buildings, is unusual. But most of what happened, such as commercial jets flying off-course, transponder failures and possible hijackings, are common emergencies. We will show that these emergencies are routinely handled with expert efficiency based on clear rules.

The crash of the first hijacked jet into the World Trade Center made it clear the United States was faced with an extraordinary situation. This should have intensified the emergency responses of the air safety and defense systems.

The whole country was aware. For example, at 9:06 AM the NY Police broadcast:

"This was a terrorist attack. Notify the Pentagon."
- 'Daily News ' (New York) September 12, 2001

'American Forces Press Service' reported that ordinary people working at the Pentagon worried they could be next: "We were watching the World Trade Center on the television," said a Navy officer. "When the second plane deliberately dove into the tower, someone said, 'The World Trade Center is one of the most recognizable symbols of America. We're sitting in a close second.'" - 'DEFENSELINK News ', September 13, 2001

U.S. air safety and air defense emergency systems are activated in response to problems every day. On 9/11 they failed despite, not because of, the extreme nature of the emergency. This could only happen if individuals in high positions worked in a coordinated way to make them fail .

Such operatives would almost surely have failed if they tried to disrupt and abort routine protection systems without top-level support . The failure of the emergency systems would be noticed immediately. Moreover, given the catastrophic nature of the attacks, the highest military authorities would be alerted. Acting on their own, the operatives could expect that their orders would be countermanded and that they themselves would be arrested.

The sabotage of routine protective systems, controlled by strict hierarchies, would never have been contemplated, let alone attempted, absent the involvement of the supreme U.S. military command. This includes at least U.S. President George Bush, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the then-Acting Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard B. Myers .

Only one newspaper told the truth. That was the 'San Diego Union-Tribune':

"Air defense around Washington is provided mainly by fighter planes from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland near the District of Columbia border. The D.C. Air National Guard is also based there and equipped with F-16 fighter planes, a National Guard spokesman said.

"But the fighters took to the skies over Washington only after the devastating attack on the Pentagon..."
- 'San Diego Union-Tribune ', September 12, 2001.

The media should have demanded to know the truth about why fighter jets assigned to protect Washington didn't scramble an hour BEFORE the Pentagon was hit.

[ Ed. Note : The fact is our military could have and should have stopped the second, third, and fourth planes from attacking.]