The Almond
23rd September 2010, 04:56 AM
Greetings all! I have been overcome by guilt. In February of 2001, I was invited to a meeting at the White House that I recorded. That meeting was between George W. Bush and his top advisors as they planned the 9/11 attackes. I have recorded the transcript here as a way of clearing the air.
It was February 1st , 2001. George W. Bush, newly inaugurated 42nd president of the US strode into the room with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. As a recently appointed special advisor, to the president, I had no idea what I was doing in this meeting. Most of the president's cabinet was there, including a few who had yet to be confirmed by the senate. Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and me, a nameless young military engineer.
“Good morning,” Bush said with a grin. “Let's get straight to business. We need to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, and to do that, we're going to need a new Pearl Harbor.”
“It's exactly as we wrote it out in the Plan for a New American Century,” Cheney intoned. “It was incredibly smart of us to publish the document outlining our plans in such a way that any moron with an internet connection could read it. Basically, the document says that we need to kill a large number of American citizens and make it look like the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan are at fault.”
“Indeed,” Colin Powell added, “I think it's important to remember that, as a career military officer and former president of Focus on the Family, I have absolutely no problem with murdering thousands of my fellow citizens.”
“Yeah, me either,” Rumsfeld said with a chuckle.
“Well no duh!” Karl Rove blurted out, “You eat orphans and strangle puppies!”
“Well, me and Michael Vick,” Rumsfeld replied.
“I call him M-dawg!” Condi shouted.
The group laughed. I did not.
“So what's the plan big G?” Cheney asked.
“Well, Turd Blossom,” Bush started, “We need something big, so I was thinking about another attack on the WTC towers.”
“Brilliant!!” Rice shouted. “We stick a few bombs in the basement, and plant some evidence that some Iraqi military officers did it. Hey! Does anyone mind if I get started on this?” Rice asked as she pulled out a bottle of scotch.
“Yeah, go ahead” Rove hissed, “But we need to think bigger.”
“Yeah,” Bush said, smirking again, “We're going to ram planes into the towers.”
The room fell silent, and my mouth dropped to the floor. The stunned silence, broken only by a gentle chugging in the corner of the room, quickly abated as a wave of realization swept over the room.
“BRILLIANT!” Everyone shouted.
“You really think so?” Bush said, showing his trademark false modesty.
I raised my hand.
“Yes, a question from the exceedingly handsome young man in the back,” Bush called out.
“Umm, why exactly do we need to use planes?”
The sound of 6 pairs of eyeballs rolling back was deafening.
“Look, kid,” Rumsfeld began, “An airplane is the most efficient way to cause a lot of superficial damage to a building's exterior, but not cause the building to fall down.”
My mouth dropped again. “How is that?” I asked.
“Who invited the freaking retard?” Rice shouted, waving her half empty bottle of scotch at me.
“I did,” Rove replied, “We're going to need him. Follow me on this one, kid,” Rove began, “You know that jet fuel doesn't burn hot enough to melt steel, and that airplanes are just hollow cages of aluminum.”
“Yes...”
“Well, airplanes practically weigh nothing, and when they run into a building, they just disintegrate, leaving a little hole. Hollywood style explosion, with absolutely no structural damage. The jet fuel burns off in a few minutes, starts a few office fires, and you're left with some smoke and some minor exterior damage.”
I was starting to follow the logic. After all, secondary office fires can't hurt steel, and fireproofing steel members was for panty waists. That's why when cool architects design buildings, they don't put any fireproofing on the structural steel. It's a total waste of time and money, as were sprinkler systems.
“Ok,” I replied after a few moments, “So we ram some airplanes into the towers--”
“And then we blow them up,” Bush added quickly.
“Right,” Cheney continued, “If the towers don't blow up and fall down, this entire plan will fail.”
“How's that again?” I asked.
Rice threw her newly emptied bottle of scotch at me, it flew about 3 feet over my head and shattered on the wall behind me. “Make boom!” She shouted. “Ram airplanes into towers is boring, towers fall down is much badder!”
“So, how do we make this happen?” Rove said after a brief pause.
The eyes of everyone in the room remained pointed at me. Rove gestured at me.
“Uhh...” I explained. “Well, in the military, when we blow up buildings, we usually have the air force drop a few MOABs on it. They're big enough to knock the eyelids off a cockroach at about 10 miles.”
“That's nice, kid, but we need to be secretive about this,” Rove said. “That means no bombs and no missiles.”
“Well, in that case, I suppose we would just pack a few thousand pounds of C4 around the main supporting columns in the basement. I mean, we're going to need tons of the stuff, and it's going to be one hell of an explosion.”
“No go,” replied Rumsfeld, “That would look like two separate incidents, and besides, the towers will be occupied continuously until the attack, so we can't just throw enormous C4 cartridges in the basement.”
“We need a secret demolition, one that looks like it was caused by a progressive collapse of the structure induced by fire, but also one that is sufficiently controlled such that the building collapses entirely within its own footprint and doesn't damage any of the surrounding structures, except building 7.” Bush explained.
“Sir,” I began, “With all due respect, the military doesn't do secret demolitions. When we blow something up, we blow it up completely, and practically skywrite our names over the smoldering ruins. Then we send the marines in to plant a flag in the rubble and moon the opposition.”
Rumsfeld pumped his fist in the air. Talking about explosions (and mooning) gave him an instant erection.
“I know it's a tall order, but civilian contractors do this all the time,” Rove told me.
“Again, sir, a civilian company would need access to a completely empty building, stripped of all drywall and insulation, then they would carefully cut the beams, and apply charges linked with detonation cord.”
“Yeah, that's what they told us,” Powell chimed in. “They were nice guys, and they were really good sports for agreeing not to tell anyone about our little plan, but basically they said they never, ever, did anything in secret. They totally gut a building, remove everything from the electric wiring to the copper pipes in the bathroom. Then they spend 4 months cutting beams and carefully placing explosives. After the demolition, there's miles of detonation cord, igniters, explosive casings and so on. The FBI, NYPD, FEMA and half a dozen other agencies who will be there would notice all of that stuff in a second.”
“So you can't use detonation cord,” Rumsfeld added, pausing briefly to adjust his trousers. “You'll need to use remote controls.”
It was February 1st , 2001. George W. Bush, newly inaugurated 42nd president of the US strode into the room with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. As a recently appointed special advisor, to the president, I had no idea what I was doing in this meeting. Most of the president's cabinet was there, including a few who had yet to be confirmed by the senate. Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and me, a nameless young military engineer.
“Good morning,” Bush said with a grin. “Let's get straight to business. We need to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, and to do that, we're going to need a new Pearl Harbor.”
“It's exactly as we wrote it out in the Plan for a New American Century,” Cheney intoned. “It was incredibly smart of us to publish the document outlining our plans in such a way that any moron with an internet connection could read it. Basically, the document says that we need to kill a large number of American citizens and make it look like the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan are at fault.”
“Indeed,” Colin Powell added, “I think it's important to remember that, as a career military officer and former president of Focus on the Family, I have absolutely no problem with murdering thousands of my fellow citizens.”
“Yeah, me either,” Rumsfeld said with a chuckle.
“Well no duh!” Karl Rove blurted out, “You eat orphans and strangle puppies!”
“Well, me and Michael Vick,” Rumsfeld replied.
“I call him M-dawg!” Condi shouted.
The group laughed. I did not.
“So what's the plan big G?” Cheney asked.
“Well, Turd Blossom,” Bush started, “We need something big, so I was thinking about another attack on the WTC towers.”
“Brilliant!!” Rice shouted. “We stick a few bombs in the basement, and plant some evidence that some Iraqi military officers did it. Hey! Does anyone mind if I get started on this?” Rice asked as she pulled out a bottle of scotch.
“Yeah, go ahead” Rove hissed, “But we need to think bigger.”
“Yeah,” Bush said, smirking again, “We're going to ram planes into the towers.”
The room fell silent, and my mouth dropped to the floor. The stunned silence, broken only by a gentle chugging in the corner of the room, quickly abated as a wave of realization swept over the room.
“BRILLIANT!” Everyone shouted.
“You really think so?” Bush said, showing his trademark false modesty.
I raised my hand.
“Yes, a question from the exceedingly handsome young man in the back,” Bush called out.
“Umm, why exactly do we need to use planes?”
The sound of 6 pairs of eyeballs rolling back was deafening.
“Look, kid,” Rumsfeld began, “An airplane is the most efficient way to cause a lot of superficial damage to a building's exterior, but not cause the building to fall down.”
My mouth dropped again. “How is that?” I asked.
“Who invited the freaking retard?” Rice shouted, waving her half empty bottle of scotch at me.
“I did,” Rove replied, “We're going to need him. Follow me on this one, kid,” Rove began, “You know that jet fuel doesn't burn hot enough to melt steel, and that airplanes are just hollow cages of aluminum.”
“Yes...”
“Well, airplanes practically weigh nothing, and when they run into a building, they just disintegrate, leaving a little hole. Hollywood style explosion, with absolutely no structural damage. The jet fuel burns off in a few minutes, starts a few office fires, and you're left with some smoke and some minor exterior damage.”
I was starting to follow the logic. After all, secondary office fires can't hurt steel, and fireproofing steel members was for panty waists. That's why when cool architects design buildings, they don't put any fireproofing on the structural steel. It's a total waste of time and money, as were sprinkler systems.
“Ok,” I replied after a few moments, “So we ram some airplanes into the towers--”
“And then we blow them up,” Bush added quickly.
“Right,” Cheney continued, “If the towers don't blow up and fall down, this entire plan will fail.”
“How's that again?” I asked.
Rice threw her newly emptied bottle of scotch at me, it flew about 3 feet over my head and shattered on the wall behind me. “Make boom!” She shouted. “Ram airplanes into towers is boring, towers fall down is much badder!”
“So, how do we make this happen?” Rove said after a brief pause.
The eyes of everyone in the room remained pointed at me. Rove gestured at me.
“Uhh...” I explained. “Well, in the military, when we blow up buildings, we usually have the air force drop a few MOABs on it. They're big enough to knock the eyelids off a cockroach at about 10 miles.”
“That's nice, kid, but we need to be secretive about this,” Rove said. “That means no bombs and no missiles.”
“Well, in that case, I suppose we would just pack a few thousand pounds of C4 around the main supporting columns in the basement. I mean, we're going to need tons of the stuff, and it's going to be one hell of an explosion.”
“No go,” replied Rumsfeld, “That would look like two separate incidents, and besides, the towers will be occupied continuously until the attack, so we can't just throw enormous C4 cartridges in the basement.”
“We need a secret demolition, one that looks like it was caused by a progressive collapse of the structure induced by fire, but also one that is sufficiently controlled such that the building collapses entirely within its own footprint and doesn't damage any of the surrounding structures, except building 7.” Bush explained.
“Sir,” I began, “With all due respect, the military doesn't do secret demolitions. When we blow something up, we blow it up completely, and practically skywrite our names over the smoldering ruins. Then we send the marines in to plant a flag in the rubble and moon the opposition.”
Rumsfeld pumped his fist in the air. Talking about explosions (and mooning) gave him an instant erection.
“I know it's a tall order, but civilian contractors do this all the time,” Rove told me.
“Again, sir, a civilian company would need access to a completely empty building, stripped of all drywall and insulation, then they would carefully cut the beams, and apply charges linked with detonation cord.”
“Yeah, that's what they told us,” Powell chimed in. “They were nice guys, and they were really good sports for agreeing not to tell anyone about our little plan, but basically they said they never, ever, did anything in secret. They totally gut a building, remove everything from the electric wiring to the copper pipes in the bathroom. Then they spend 4 months cutting beams and carefully placing explosives. After the demolition, there's miles of detonation cord, igniters, explosive casings and so on. The FBI, NYPD, FEMA and half a dozen other agencies who will be there would notice all of that stuff in a second.”
“So you can't use detonation cord,” Rumsfeld added, pausing briefly to adjust his trousers. “You'll need to use remote controls.”