-Caveat Lector- Twenty minutes elapsed from the time I started taping news coverage on the morning of Sept. 11th to when the Pentagon was hit. Re-viewing the tape for the first time in April, I was struck by how many times the issue of not-scrambling-jets was raised. Recently I took notes on the coverage.
No fewer than four correspondents (NBC then MSNBC) addressed this issue, while a fifth chimed in in agreement - all before the Pentagon was hit. At 9:19 AM taping began. Jim Miklaszewski, reporting from the Pentagon, was in the middle of discussing this issue, and I caught the tail end of a sentence, "the scrambling of any military jets. If National Guard were to be scrambled in that area, that would be on order of the governor." He explained that if jets were scrambled, there would be an issue of misidentifying a pilot's intentions and then said, "But so far the US military and Pentagon officials are scrambling to get as much information as they possibly can to determine what course of action, if any, the US military would take." Well, at least they were "scrambling" for information... Katie Couric interrupted with the only intelligent comment I heard in that 20-minute span, ""But Mick they ARE describing this as a terrorist attack right now" Jim's response was that yes, according to very preliminary information, some officials in the Pentagon were calling it an obvious terrorist attack, and that the video of the WTC towers was a clear indication that it was not an accident. Matt Lauer took the reigns and cut over to Bob Kerr, who was reporting from the White House. Kerr followed-up on what Jim Miklaszewski had been saying. "Of course the President has the authority to scramble military forces and this is a case, obviously, in which retaliation, if indeed it proves to be a terrorist incident, will be contemplated." He added that the usual course of events is for there to be an investigation, unless someone steps forward and claims responsibility. Katie then cuts back to Jim Miklaszewski who says that their primary concern is to prevent the public in the NY area from further attacks by air, and, "According to intelligence officials, there were no firm indications prior to this that anything LIKE this could have happened." Jim goes on to say, "But in terms of scrambling the US military, it would be for protection for the time being, and not necessarily even THINKING right now about any kind of retaliation." At 9:23 AM, Katie asks Jim if he can explain what is in place in the event of an attack like this. Jim responds that it is very difficult for the military to respond to situations like this because they don't know who is behind it, and because they are unclear if there are any other potential attacks like this one. (This begs the questions, of course, if they are unclear if more attacks are on the way, what is the possible excuse for not scrambling jets? It seems that Jim was being fed some very confusion information.) Another excuse, apparently fed to Jim, was that these were open air spaces, and that would somehow preclude the military from scrambling jets. He continues, "... and it's difficult for the US military to simply scramble jets, and put them in the air, and then, according to officials here, 'And then do WHAT?'" He does then say, and mind you, he is at the Pentagon, "THIS area, of course, according to officials here, is obviously going to be declared off-limits in terms of any air traffic." He said that between 9:24 AM and 9:25 AM. The Pentagon wasn't hit until 9:39 AM. Matt Lauer then gives his perspective, saying that if planes were hijacked and carrying passengers, there really wasn't much the military could have done. He says the military can't shoot down a plane like that, and makes note of the risk to the people on the ground in a place like Manhattan if that were to be done. Jim agrees with him. I switched channels from NBC to MSNBC in time to hear Andrea Mitchell reporting that a top US official told her that they have early reports that at least one of the planes had been a hijacked American Airlines plane en route from Boston to Los Angeles. She added, "This same official says that there was no terror alert other than the usual world-wide caution. They had no warnings on Bin Laden or other types of terror alerts coming into our intelligence community." We now know this is not true, of course. Lester Holt asks her what the game plan is in a situation like this. Her response is that this is something the FBI would immediately respond to. She then goes on to describe the emergency response center created by Guliani at great expense. Lester Holt later remarks, "And one of the things we should point out is that America is virtually DEFENSELESS to a maverick or a hijacked airplane." He says that we primarily have Air National Guard protecting the coasts, but that they are not geared up for an attack from within the United States. He finshes with, "if these planes were in fact carrying passengers, as that report would indicate, they would be defenseless to do anything about it." Andrea Mitchell agreed. Finally, at 9:39 AM, Jim Miklaszewski reports that the Pentagon has been hit. He says the building shook and the windows rattled, describes more of what he's seen, and then added, " "But, interestingly enough, one intelligence official here in the building said when he saw what appeared to be the coordinated attack on the World Trade Center, his advice was to stay away from the outside of the building today JUST IN CASE." Laura <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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