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WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued today’s “Bush Administration’s
Misstatement of the Day” on the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
During
his prime time news conference last week, President Bush said:
"Nobody
in our government, at least, and I don't think the prior government, could
envision flying airplanes into buildings on such a massive scale."
(President Bush, 4/13/04)
However,
according to a USA Today story:
…the
North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating
what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners
used as weapons to crash into targets
One
of the imagined targets was the World Trade Center. In another exercise,
jets performed a mock shootdown over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet supposedly
laden with chemical poisons headed toward a target in the United States.
In a third scenario, the target was the Pentagon — but that drill was not
run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic, NORAD and Defense
officials say.
NORAD
had drills of jets as weapons
By
Steven Komarow and Tom Squitieri, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON
— In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace
Defense Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says
was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash
into targets and cause mass casualties.
One
of the imagined targets was the World Trade Center. In another exercise,
jets performed a mock shootdown over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet supposedly
laden with chemical poisons headed toward a target in the United States.
In a third scenario, the target was the Pentagon — but that drill was not
run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic, NORAD and Defense
officials say.
NORAD,
in a written statement, confirmed that such hijacking exercises occurred.
It said the scenarios outlined were regional drills, not regularly scheduled
continent-wide exercises.
"Numerous
types of civilian and military aircraft were used as mock hijacked aircraft,"
the statement said. "These exercises tested track detection and identification;
scramble and interception; hijack procedures; internal and external agency
coordination and operational security and communications security procedures."
A
White House spokesman said Sunday that the Bush administration was not
aware of the NORAD exercises. But the exercises using real aircraft show
that at least one part of the government thought the possibility of such
attacks, though unlikely, merited scrutiny.
On
April 8, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks heard testimony
from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that the White House didn't
anticipate hijacked planes being used as weapons.
On
April 12, a watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, released
a copy of an e-mail written by a former NORAD official referring to the
proposed exercise targeting the Pentagon. The e-mail said the simulation
was not held because the Pentagon considered it "too unrealistic."
President
Bush said at a news conference Tuesday, "Nobody in our government, at least,
and I don't think the prior government, could envision flying airplanes
into buildings on such a massive scale."
The
exercises differed from the Sept. 11 attacks in one important respect:
The planes in the simulation were coming from a foreign country.
Until
Sept. 11, NORAD was expected to defend the United States and Canada from
aircraft based elsewhere. After the attacks, that responsibility broadened
to include flights that originated in the two countries.
But
there were exceptions in the early drills, including one operation, planned
in July 2001 and conducted later, that involved planes from airports in
Utah and Washington state that were "hijacked." Those planes were escorted
by U.S. and Canadian aircraft to airfields in British Columbia and Alaska.
NORAD
officials have acknowledged that "scriptwriters" for the drills included
the idea of hijacked aircraft being used as weapons.
"Threats
of killing hostages or crashing were left to the scriptwriters to invoke
creativity and broaden the required response," Maj. Gen. Craig McKinley,
a NORAD official, told the 9/11 commission. No exercise matched the specific
events of Sept. 11, NORAD said.
"We
have planned and executed numerous scenarios over the years to include
aircraft originating from foreign airports penetrating our sovereign airspace,"
Gen. Ralph Eberhart, NORAD commander, told USA TODAY. "Regrettably, the
tragic events of 9/11 were never anticipated or exercised."
NORAD,
a U.S.-Canadian command, was created in 1958 to guard against Soviet bombers.
Until
Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD conducted four major exercises a year. Most included
a hijack scenario, but not all of those involved planes as weapons. Since
the attacks, NORAD has conducted more than 100 exercises, all with mock
hijackings.
NORAD
fighters based in Florida have intercepted two hijacked smaller aircraft
since the Sept. 11 attacks. Both originated in Cuba and were escorted to
Key West in spring 2003, NORAD said. |
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