George Bush thought 9/11 plane had been shot down on his orders

Memoirs reveal former US president gave order to shoot down any hijacked planes before United Airlines flight 93 crashed

George Bush initially thought United Airlines flight 93 had been shot down in Pennsylvania. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

George Bush initially believed the only plane not to reach its intended target during the 11 September attacks had been shot down on his orders, according to leaks from the former president's memoir of his two terms in office.

Bush reveals that he gave the order for any further suspected hijacked planes to be shot down after the first aircraft were flown into the World Trade Centre in New York during the 2001 terror attacks.

He at first thought the crash of United Airlines flight 93 in Pennsylvania had resulted from this instruction, although it later emerged that passengers had stormed the cockpit as hijackers flew the plane towards the Capitol building in Washington.

The memoir, Decision Points, is due to be published on 9 November, in the aftermath of the US midterm elections, and Bush is already lined up for interviews on the Oprah Winfrey and NBC Today shows.

The Drudge Report website says the very personal book opens with the line: "It was a simple question: 'Can you remember the last day you didn't have a drink?'" as Bush deals with the well-known issue of his alcohol consumption.

His drinking has previously been said to have come to an end when he woke up with a hangover following his 40th birthday celebrations.

In a chapter about stem cell research, he describes receiving a letter from Nancy Reagan detailing a "wrenching family journey", but says: "I did feel a responsibility to voice my pro-life convictions and lead the country toward what Pope John Paul II called a culture of life."

Bush goes on to describes an emotional July 2001 meeting with the Pope, who had Parkinson's disease, at the pontiff's summer residence.

The Pope reportedly recognised the promise of science but implored Bush to support life in all its forms.

At the pontiff's funeral in 2005, Bush – after a reminder from his wife, Laura, that it was a time to "pray for miracles" – said a prayer for the ABC news anchor Peter Jennings, who had cancer.

The book is said to stay clear of criticising Barack Obama, and a source told the Drudge Report: "You will find the president strong, loving life, and ultimately at peace with the decisions he made."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/29/george-bush-thought-9-11-plane-shot-down

F l i g h t   9 3

Original New Hampshire newspaper article dated September 13th, 2001.

Thursday, September 13, 2001 FAA worker says hijacked jetliners almost collided before striking World Trade Center By ALBERT McKEON, Telegraph Staff mckeona@telegraph-nh.com Staff photo by Dean Shalhoup Several Nashua police officers block the entrance to the Boston Air Traffic Control Center on Northeastern Boulevard in Nashua Tuesday morning where they rushed shortly after two passenger aircraft that departed from Boston crashed into the World Trade Center buildings in New York.   Story Index | Forum The two hijacked jets that sliced into the World Trade Center nearly crashed into each other before reaching New York City, according to a Federal Aviation Administration employee who works in the Nashua control facility. FAA air traffic controllers in Nashua have learned through discussions with other controllers that an F-16 fighter stayed in hot pursuit of another hijacked commercial airliner until it crashed in Pennsylvania, said the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. By 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the military had taken control of U.S. airspace, the employee said. The jet crashed into a field at 10:37 a.m. The incidents fell in line with a handful of incredible and unprecedented events that unfolded in America on Tuesday, said the employee, who worked in the control center that fateful morning. The center is one of 20 FAA facilities that monitor long-distance flights once they leave airports. The morning's surreal moments included a controller, who had just arrived for work, discovering that his wife's American Airline flight was involved in the day of terror, the employee said. Controllers never expected that the terrorists who hijacked the plane had their sights set on the north tower of the World Trade Center, the employee said. Even as the tower burned, controllers still hadn't concluded that another hijacked plane - United Airlines Flight 175 - would slam into the other New York skyscraper, the employee said. The terrorists, however, nearly had their plans dashed when the two planes almost collided outside the city, the employee said. "The two aircraft got too close to each other down by Stewart" International Airport in New Windsor, N.Y., the employee said. Controllers have also learned that an F-16 fighter closely pursued hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 until it crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania, the employee said. Although controllers don't have complete details of the Air Force's chase of the Boeing 757, they have learned the F-16 made 360-degree turns to remain close to the commercial jet, the employee said. "He must've seen the whole thing," the employee said of the F-16 pilot's view of Flight 93's crash. One air traffic controller - with the help of an assistant - monitored the flight patterns of the two jets that toppled the World Trade Center, the employee said. He directed American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 - both Boeing 767 jets that had Boston to Los Angeles routes, the employee said. The same controller handled Egypt Air Flight 990 when it crashed off the coast of Massachusetts in 1999, the employee said. Hijackers gained control of American Airlines Flight 11 around Gardner, Mass., the employee said. "American was just flying around, doing what it wanted," the employee said of the jet's approach to New York. United Airlines Flight 175 remained in the hands of its pilots until Albany, N.Y., the employee said. Terrorists apparently seized United Airlines Flight 93 late in its interrupted route, the employee said. The controller in charge of flights 11 and 175 noticed the American Airlines plane had encountered difficulties when its transponder - the device that sends an electrical radar pulse to air traffic control centers - shut off, the employee said. At that point, the plane veered from its course west, the employee said. Soon after, the controller realized a hijacker stood in the cockpit when the plane's captain - John Ogonowski of Dracut, Mass. - turned on his microphone, the employee said. Ogonowski activated the microphone so the FAA could hear the terrorists' threats, the employee said. The controller heard someone instruct, "'Nobody do anything stupid'" and no one would get hurt, the employee said. After that, the controller heard no more conversations, the employee said. "That's all that was heard," the employee said. When it became apparent the plane had fallen into the hands of hijackers, a third controller began helping the controller and his assistant, a procedure followed during all hijackings, the employee said. FAA controllers also notified concerned government organizations such as the military, the employee said. Then, controllers shut down all other air traffic quickly, the employee said. But many of the aircraft didn't immediately answer FAA calls, the employee said. Planes flying through the Nashua center's airspace on their way to Georgia or Florida were told to land at other airports and avoid the airspace of the hijacked flights, the employee said. The controller spoke with United Airlines Flight 175 for quite some time after terrorists took command of American Airlines Flight 11, the employee said. FAA controllers never expected Flight 175 to hit the second World Trade Center tower because of that sustained contact with the crew, the employee said. "It's not in anyone's mind they're hitting a target," the employee said. "When somebody takes a plane over, they try to negotiate a release with money," the employee said. Many controllers also watched events unfold on the control center's television, the employee said. "After the first plane hit, nobody imagined it would happen again," the employee said. "We all thought that was it. It totally caught everybody off guard." The controller is "pretty disturbed" that he lost both planes, the employee said. He handled both flights because they shared similar routes on their intended journey to Los Angeles, the employee said. Other controllers will handle the disasters in other ways, the employee said. But controllers can feel rather helpless after such a tragedy because they "are just a voice in the air," the employee said. "You can't do anything." Controllers will rally around each other, the employee said. Controllers are very supportive of one another, the employee said. They are "like family - sitting shoulder to shoulder 40 hours a week," the employee said. The employee wouldn't identify the controller who lost his wife, or her name. She was a businesswoman who had just missed her flight the night before, the employee said. "We're waiting to see what happens next," the employee said of the country's concern about the potential of more terrorist air attacks. "It pretty much opens the door to a bunch of stuff going on," the employee said of the terrorists' use of planes as weapons. Albert McKeon can be reached at 249-3339. http://www.web.archive.org/web/20031018152433/http://www.investigate911.com/flight93.htm

 

The FBI's later explanation for the white jet was that a passing civilian Fairchild Falcon 20 jet was asked to descend from 34,000ft to 5,000ft some minutes after the crash to give co-ordinates for the site. The plane and pilot have never been produced or identified. Susan Mcelwain says a Falcon 20 was not the plane she saw.   The FBI insists there was no military plane in the area but at 9.22am a sonic boom - caused by a supersonic jet - was picked up by an earthquake monitor in southern Pennsylvania, 60 miles away from Shanksville.   2) Lee Purbaugh: There was another plane," Lee said. "I didn't get a good look but it was white and it circled the area about twice and then it flew off over the horizon."   3) Tom Spinelli: "I saw the white plane," "It was flying around all over the place like it was looking for something. I saw it before and after the crash."   4) Dennis Decker, 5) Rick Chaney: About a mile north on Buckstown Road, Dennis Decker and Rick Chaney were at work making wooden pallets when they heard an explosion and came running outside to watch a large mushroom cloud spreading over the ridge." As soon as we looked up, we saw a midsized jet flying low and fast," Decker said. "It appeared to make a loop or part of a circle, and then it turned fast and headed out. " Decker and Chaney described the plane as a Lear-jet type, with engines mounted near the tail and painted white with no identifying markings. "If you were here to see it, you'd have no doubt," Decker said. "It was a jet plane, and it had to be flying real close when that 757 went down. If I was the FBI, I'd find out who was driving that plane. "   6) Robin Doppstadt: Robin Doppstadt was working inside her family food-and-supply store when she heard the crash. When she went outside, she said, she saw a small white jet that looked like it was making a single circle over the crash site. "Then it climbed very quickly and took off. "   7) Dale Browning who witnessed the white plane, "the damndest darn thing", remarked: "Everybody's seen this thing in the sky, but no one can tell us what it is."   8) Jim Brant: Mr. Brant and two of his employees arrived at the site in minutes , hoping to help survivors. He said he noticed a white plane, perhaps a jet, circling the wreckage. "It reminded me of a fighter jet," he said. He said it stayed there for one or two minutes before leaving. "The plane had no markings on it, either civilian or military."   9) John Feegle: "It didn't look like a commercial plane," Feegle said. "It had a real goofy tail on it, like a high tail. It circled around, and it was gone." "The aircraft appeared to have an unusually tall vertical stabilizer."   THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS:   10) Kathy Blades and her son ran outside after the crash and saw the jet, with sleek back wings and an angled cockpit, race overhead.

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Here is the text as it once appeared at PittsburghLive.com (Pittsburgh's website) on Friday September 14th, 2001. The first page still online: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/static/pdf/gtr091401.pdf Authorities deny Flight 93 was shot down by F-16 By Richard Gazarik and Robin Acton TRIBUNE-REVIEW Federal investigators hope the flight data recorder recovered from United Airlines Flight 93 will reveal what caused the Boeing 757 jetliner to crash into an abandoned Somerset County strip mine in a deadly sequence of terrorist attacks. FBI Agent William Crowley announced Thursday afternoon that investigators using heavy equipment found the recorder in a crater at the crash site near Lambertsville in Stonycreek Township. The device that electronically records the aircraft's instruments in the final moments before a plane crashes was packaged for transport to Washington, D.C., for analysis by officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, Crowley said. Searchers yesterday also found one of the hijacked jetliner's engines. But by evening, the cockpit voice recorder had not been recovered. Meanwhile, speculation continued to swirl around reports that a military fighter jet was seen in the vicinity immediately after the crash. According to the Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph, FAA employees at an air-traffic control center near Boston learned from controllers at other facilities that an F-16 "stayed in hot pursuit" of the 757. By 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Air Force had taken control of all U.S. airspace, the unidentified controller told the Telegraph. A few minutes later, the Boeing crashed in Stonycreek Township. The F-16 made 360-degree turns to stay close to the 757, the Telegraph reported. "He must've seen the whole thing," the FAA employee said of the F-16's pilot. Crowley confirmed that there were two other aircraft within 25 miles of the United flight that were heading east when it crashed, scattering debris over 8 miles. He did not know the types of planes, nor could he discuss the altitudes at which they were flying. Military planes sometimes "shadow" airliners that are in trouble or have lost radio communications, as part of efforts to re-establish contact. An Air Force spokeswoman at North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado, Capt. Adriane Craig, said the military could neither confirm nor deny whether an airplane was following the United 757. Neither NORAD nor the Air Force releases information about where its jets are flying at any given time, or what their patrol routes are over metropolitan areas, Craig said. Crowley discounted rumors that the military shot down the jetliner in a sparsely populated area to keep it away from the White House and other possible targets in Washington, D.C. "There was no military involvement," Crowley said. NORAD issued its own denial yesterday afternoon, "confirm(ing) that the United Airlines jetliner that crashed outside Somerset ... was not downed by a U.S. military aircraft." "NORAD-allocated forces have not engaged with weapons any aircraft, including Flight 93," the statement said. A Canadian aviation expert told the Tribune-Review that the concept of a U.S. Air Force jet shooting down the 757 "seems a bit bizarre." "It's not a very palatable piece of news for the American public," said Victor Ujimoro, a professor of aviation management at the University of Western Ontario. Although Ujimoro said he doubted the rumor was true, he could understand why "it may not be too far-fetched of a hypothesis to entertain." "There (were) already other aircraft hitting the Trade Center," Ujimoro said. "The third plane flew from Dulles to the Pentagon, and the fourth plane (Flight 93) is possibly going to Camp David." Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, President Bush's nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said fighters and other aircraft were mobilized Tuesday in response to the hijackings. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers emphatically denied that Flight 93 was shot down. "The armed forces did not shoot down any aircraft," he said. "When it became clear what the threat was, we did scramble fighter aircraft, AWACS radar aircraft and tanker aircraft to begin to establish orbits in case other aircraft showed up in the FAA system that were hijacked, but we never actually had to use force." Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the terrorists had a bomb on board the plane, the FBI's Crowley said. "We have no information to lead us either way. We need them (the flight recorders) to determine if that happened," he said. Crowley said evidence recovery teams will continue to look for the cockpit voice recorder. Known as "black boxes," the recorders are encased in orange containers designed to withstand the impact of a crash. The flight data recorder can tell investigators such things as the speed of the aircraft, its altitude, the amount of fuel and the position of its rudders and flaps. Impact is supposed to trigger a transponder that emits an electronic signal that enables searchers to track its location on the ground. Crowley said the recorders from Flight 93 did not send out any emissions. It was discovered by an "integrated search team" of state police and federal investigators using heavy equipment to unearth the device from the crater cut into the ground on impact. The discovery of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorders are critical to determining the cause of the crash, according to U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a Johnstown Democrat, who visited the scene Wednesday morning. Murtha said he was told that conversations overheard by air traffic controllers at the Cleveland FAA center revealed that there was a struggle going on inside the cockpit, perhaps between members of the flight crew and the hijackers armed with plastic knives and boxcutters. "We have not seen anything to contradict this," Crowley added. A passenger, Mark Bingham, 31, of San Francisco, Calif., was able to call Westmoreland County 911 and tell a communications officer that the plane had been hijacked and the terrorists had a bomb. There was a sound of an explosion before 911 lost contact with Bingham. An evidence collection team comprising technicians from several different federal law enforcement agencies has been working since Tuesday, collecting parts of the airplane and human remains, as well as searching for the recorders. Forensic archaeologists and anthropologists were among experts who came to the site yesterday to aid investigators in searching the wide debris field to help retrieve potential evidence and human remains. Crowley said the FBI and NTSB have not determined whether a bomb exploded inside the aircraft before it crashed. Residents of nearby Indian Lake reported seeing debris falling from the jetliner as it overflew the area shortly before crashing. State police Maj. Lyle Szupinka said investigators also will be searching a pond behind the crash site looking for the other recorder and other debris. If necessary, divers may be brought in to assist search teams, or the pond may be drained, he said. Szupinka said searchers found one of the large engines from the aircraft "at a considerable distance from the crash site." "It appears to be the whole engine," he added. Szupinka said most of the remaining debris, scattered over a perimeter that stretches for several miles, are in pieces no bigger than a "briefcase." "If you were to go down there, you wouldn't know that was a plane crash," he continued. "You would look around and say, `I wonder what happened here?' The first impression looking around you wouldn't say, `Oh, looks like a plane crash. The debris is very, very small. "The best I can describe it is if you've ever been to a commercial landfill. When it's covered and you have papers flying around. You have papers blowing around and bits and pieces of shredded metal. That's probably about the best way to describe that scene itself." Tribune-Review staff writer Jason Togyer and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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