Reply #33: Who's doing the MIHOPING? [View All]

[JackRiddler]

Oh, I'm sure they'd see that as a minor risk. If you are an Übermensch vacations are a natural reward and symbolic leadership necessity (the people need royalty). Besides, vacations are the workplace of cronyism and gangsterism.

And would you say that the vacations have been treated as an issue? And couldn't you have predicted that they would not be an issue?

It's not like Bush or Cheney are operationally in charge of letting in the hijackers, tracking their movements, keeping up hidden contacts if necessary, blocking investigations, laying down false trails, preparing legends, distributing strategic warnings (for later credibility), training or financing pilots, setting up technical necessities (depending on whether you believe there were demolitions or remote control/bumbleplanes), etc. The operational Makers in Making it Happen are elsewhere. Even under MIHOP with full involvement of the regime at the top, B & C themselves only have the functional role only of LIHOP.

Cheney's role was almost certainly more active than "just pretend you're surprised." We know that he is the actual chief executive. He was
1) in charge of the Counterterror task force (let that speak for itself, keeping in mind the Project for a New American Century and Its Need for a New Pearl Harbor);
2) in charge of the Energy task force (presumably including the pre-9/11 Enron plunder of California, Iraq invasion plans and Taliban negotiations; Judicial Watch is still pursuing the case to get the papers released);
3) The man who actually took over the Shadow Government when it was activated on Sept. 11, an event that was only revealed (by Cheney) to the Democratic leadership and Congress in November.

Given how things worked out after Sept. 11, it seems natural to wonder whether the functions of Counterterror and Energy were not actually linked as a single vision and project: get the provocation to push through the intended wars.

Also on 9/11, members of Cheney's staff went on Cipro as a precautionary measure against possible anthrax attack (Judicial Watch).

We know that Cheney was in the White House on 9/11, hence he was both technically and literally in charge of operations. We know that Papa Bush was staying there and met him before going off to The Carlyle Group annual meeting, which may be of immense significance or functionally irrelevant.

We know that the government was running a number of thematically related wargames on 9/11. At NORAD, Vigilant Guardian and Northern Vigilance were rehearsing air defense response to both, domestic hijacking scenarios (in part by generating false blips on radar screens) and external attack. This may have actually been meant as a preventive alert posture, warming up for defense contingencies in anticipation of potential trouble on the day. We know the CIA was holding a drill to simulate a plane-crash into the building of the National Reconaissance Office, a rather implausible coincidence.

What we have learned about these wargames is probably just the tip of the iceberg. They sound like mechanical and mental elements of the day's defense standdown. The mental part provides an alibi (we got tricked at first)

So if these seemingly related wargames had high-level command and coordination as an integrated scenario, for example one devised by the executive counterterrorism task force, who might actually be running the show, say from the Situation Room in the White House?

We do know from the mainstream accounts that if anyone in the chain of command was in charge of the executive response to the attacks, it was Cheney. Myers, Rumsfeld and Bush were all off pretending they were caught by surprise. It is Cheney whom Woodward or Time magazine depict as actually giving orders from the Situation Room, among other things telling Minetta to land the planes.

He has admitted a common line was set up between Secret Service, NORAD and Pentagon, and FAA. This is how the crucial information and orders were probably exchanged. We know the transcript of this conference call runs 200 pages. It would be one of the first items that a real investigation would subpoena, along with Cheney's counterterrorism and energy task force files.