ref
24th July 2007, 06:31 AM
Here are excerpts from Dick Cheney's new biography, Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Controversial Vice President.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystandard/20070718/cm_weeklystandard/cheneyspeaks
There is a section concentrating on the events of 9/11. Interesting stuff there.
Not long after he sat down, at 9:58 A.M., the small group in the bunker watched as the south tower crumbled
...
Within minutes, Cheney was told that an unidentified aircraft was 80 miles outside of Washington. "We were all dividing 80 by 500 miles an hour to see what the windows were," Scooter Libby would later say. A military aide asked Cheney for authorization to take out the aircraft.
Cheney gave it without hesitating.
The military aide seemed surprised that the answer came so quickly. He asked again, and Cheney once again gave the authorization.
The military aide seemed to think that because Cheney had answered so quickly, he must have misunderstood the question. So he asked the vice president a third time.
"I said yes," Cheney said, not angrily but with authority.
...
At 10:18 A.M., Bolten suggested that Cheney notify the president that he had communicated the "shoot-down" order. Shortly after Cheney hung up, the officials in the bunker were advised that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania.
Everyone had the same question, says Rice. "Was it down because it had been shot down or had it crashed?" Rice and Cheney were both filled with "intense emotion," she recalls, because they both made the same assumption. "His first thought, my first thought--we had exactly the same reaction--was it must have been shot down by the fighters. And you know, that's a pretty heady moment, a pretty heavy burden."
...
At 10:28, the north tower collapsed. The building must have been charged, thought David Addington, counsel to the vice president, who was standing against the outer wall of the bunker.
Cheney, seated at the conference table, stared at the screen. Bolten and Mineta stood behind him to his left, Libby and Rice to his right. All wore virtually the same stunned expressions.
But the group in the bunker had little time to reflect on the tragedy. Two minutes later came yet another warning: An unidentified aircraft was in flight less than 10 miles out. Cheney again gave the order to shoot it down.
They waited for news. None came.
At 10:39 A.M., Cheney spoke to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for the first time. He reviewed the events of the past hour.
"There's been at least three instances here where we've had reports of aircraft approaching Washington," said Cheney. "A couple were confirmed hijack. And, pursuant to the president's instructions I gave authorization for them to be taken out."
There was quiet on the other end of the line.
"Hello?"
"Yes, I understand," Rumsfeld came back. "So we've got a couple aircraft up there that have those instructions at this present time?"
"That is correct," said Cheney. "And it's my understanding they've already taken a couple aircraft out."
"We can't confirm that," Rumsfeld told his former aide. "We're told that one aircraft is down but we do not have a pilot report that did it."
And so on.
Could Norman Mineta be talking about this incident, closely after 10:28, when an unidentified aircraft was less than 10 miles out and Cheney had already given the shoot down order earlier. He would without a doubt say that the orders still stand, as stated in that paragraph that he gave the order to shoot it down.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystandard/20070718/cm_weeklystandard/cheneyspeaks
There is a section concentrating on the events of 9/11. Interesting stuff there.
Not long after he sat down, at 9:58 A.M., the small group in the bunker watched as the south tower crumbled
...
Within minutes, Cheney was told that an unidentified aircraft was 80 miles outside of Washington. "We were all dividing 80 by 500 miles an hour to see what the windows were," Scooter Libby would later say. A military aide asked Cheney for authorization to take out the aircraft.
Cheney gave it without hesitating.
The military aide seemed surprised that the answer came so quickly. He asked again, and Cheney once again gave the authorization.
The military aide seemed to think that because Cheney had answered so quickly, he must have misunderstood the question. So he asked the vice president a third time.
"I said yes," Cheney said, not angrily but with authority.
...
At 10:18 A.M., Bolten suggested that Cheney notify the president that he had communicated the "shoot-down" order. Shortly after Cheney hung up, the officials in the bunker were advised that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania.
Everyone had the same question, says Rice. "Was it down because it had been shot down or had it crashed?" Rice and Cheney were both filled with "intense emotion," she recalls, because they both made the same assumption. "His first thought, my first thought--we had exactly the same reaction--was it must have been shot down by the fighters. And you know, that's a pretty heady moment, a pretty heavy burden."
...
At 10:28, the north tower collapsed. The building must have been charged, thought David Addington, counsel to the vice president, who was standing against the outer wall of the bunker.
Cheney, seated at the conference table, stared at the screen. Bolten and Mineta stood behind him to his left, Libby and Rice to his right. All wore virtually the same stunned expressions.
But the group in the bunker had little time to reflect on the tragedy. Two minutes later came yet another warning: An unidentified aircraft was in flight less than 10 miles out. Cheney again gave the order to shoot it down.
They waited for news. None came.
At 10:39 A.M., Cheney spoke to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for the first time. He reviewed the events of the past hour.
"There's been at least three instances here where we've had reports of aircraft approaching Washington," said Cheney. "A couple were confirmed hijack. And, pursuant to the president's instructions I gave authorization for them to be taken out."
There was quiet on the other end of the line.
"Hello?"
"Yes, I understand," Rumsfeld came back. "So we've got a couple aircraft up there that have those instructions at this present time?"
"That is correct," said Cheney. "And it's my understanding they've already taken a couple aircraft out."
"We can't confirm that," Rumsfeld told his former aide. "We're told that one aircraft is down but we do not have a pilot report that did it."
And so on.
Could Norman Mineta be talking about this incident, closely after 10:28, when an unidentified aircraft was less than 10 miles out and Cheney had already given the shoot down order earlier. He would without a doubt say that the orders still stand, as stated in that paragraph that he gave the order to shoot it down.