Monday, September 16, 2013

Waiting for Cheney

One of the mysteries of September 11 is why the normal automatic defensive procedures that anyone would expect were either remarkably slow or nonexistent.

"Heather Penney, the 9/11 fighter pilot, says celebrating normalcy is a way to honor heroes" (an example of the usual maudlin crap that we can expect every year; my emphasis in red):
"People have asked me, who ordered you to ram your aircraft? The answer is, no one. We knew what needed to be done. Once we had authorization from Vice President Cheney to get airborne, our duty was simple, clear and unspoken: to protect. And since we had no weapons capable of taking down an airliner, we’d do it by the only means we had. "

These are the infamous orders that Cheney lied about to make it seem they came from Bush.

Why did the pilots wait on the ground, wasting valuable time, waiting for the orders?  Wouldn't standard procedure be at least to have the planes in the air, in place to carry out the orders if and when they arrived?

Note the comment by fuscator:
"The story about Ms. Penney having taken off on a kamikaze mission is hogwash on so many planes (no pun intended).

I'm sure others have written extensively why there was no need for her to ram her F16 into the airliner.

I am still stumped by the idea that at Andrews AFB there were no F16s, ready to take off in 4-6 minutes, armed for air intercept.

Anyone has any idea what on earth was the mission statment of those F16s in 2001?
Added: It is worth noting that the two jets that scrambled from Otis Air National Guard Base didn't have to wait for Cheney's orders.
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