Pentagon: Rumsfeld misspoke on Flight 93 crash

[kskiska]

Defense secretary's remark to troops fuels conspiracy theories

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A comment Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made during a Christmas Eve address to U.S. troops in Baghdad has sparked new conspiracy theories about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

In the speech, Rumsfeld made a passing reference to United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to stop al Qaeda hijackers.

But in his remarks, Rumsfeld referred to the "the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania."

A Pentagon spokesman insisted that Rumsfeld simply misspoke, but Internet conspiracy theorists seized on the reference to the plane having been shot down.

"Was it a slip of the tongue? Was it an error? Or was it the truth, finally being dropped on the public more than three years after the tragedy" asked a posting on the Web site WorldNetDaily.com.

more…
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/27/rumsfeld.flt93/index.html

[tridim]

1. Thanks Pentagon..

I'll never question your top man's fuckups again.

[Ima]

54. he is getting old nt

[Benhurst]

2. But of course. What else could they say? NT

[oldhat]

3. I, for one, trust Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon.

They would never lie to me.

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bluebear]

4. Always a "gaffe" or "mistake" when it comes to a GOPer

nt

[K8-EEE]

5. No They Don't Make MISTAKES

They "MISSPEAK!"

[AmericanRevival6]

41. Another

Got me again! lol... I love the sarcasm... It is great.. Sometimes it is irony too! I like it.

[K8-EEE]

53. Hey...I Gotcha!

You misspoke....wait liberals never misspeak, they're just WRONG. GOP are never wrong only very frequently misspoken. And misspoken to. They get the wrong intellegence perhaps, but make the right decisions, given the wrong intellegence, it's just sometimes that the results are WRONG!

Glad we straightened THAT out, LOL!

[jdj]

6. Fraudian slip.

Someday they will desclassify this...Richard Clarke hinted at it, they shot it down, and Rummy slipped up and admitted it. Let's roll, indeed.

[BrightKnight]

9. Perhaps he was firing a warning shot over Bush.

He wants to keep his job despite the wave of negative public opinion.

[jdj]

10. now there's a theory I haven't heard yet.

wouldn't put it past him. It'll be dueling assholes if he and Cheney go to war against each other.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Made it to Main Street.

They probably would have ignored it if it weren't true.

Unknowable but interesting. The denial, that is.

[itzamirakul]

8. You can only tell so many lies

so many times before they begin to catch up with you. Every lie has to be remembered...where did you tell it? to whom? etc. Like Reagan, this group in the WhiTe House has now told so many lies that they cannot keep track of them.

If he did indeed mispeak...then WHAT DID HE MEAN TO SAY?

[zann725]

27. "What are they hiding?"...that's gonna leak out.

n/t

[daleo]

11. He needs to be asked point-blank, under oath.

With the question phrased in such a way that there is no wiggle room. Even then he might lie, but the exercise would be instructive anyway.

[tmooses]

12. Why is it now always "internet conspiracy theorists" whenever someone ..

questions these criminals. The MSM is just an arm of these liars in marginalizing any group that has legitimate concerns.

[Supersedeas]

39. CNN is a wing of the Party Propoganda Machine

conspiracy theorist
passing reference
the plane definitely crashed by Rummi merely slipped....

The author is taking sides from the get-go.

[FDRrocks]

13. You can always trust the Pentagon

to feed you bullshit.

[Erika]

14. Perhaps he's senile

His gaffes continue to worsen.

[chelaque liberal]

15. Another way to interpret it:

The "conspiracy theory" has always been, and the article says, that the government shot down the plane. Rumsfeld said, "the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania. Is he saying that the people who shot down the plane are in the government?

[FDRrocks]

18. Yet another possibility...

I'm currently reading "All The President Spin" by the founders of Spinsanity.com, and am amazed by the subtlety of the language and tactics these reptiles use that end up causing great effect.

Perhaps Rumsfeld is throwing a bone to the conspiracy crowd, so that the ranting they do can result in further marginalization. Quotes like this usually end up being disregarded, similar to if you tell most people that Bush said he isn't concerned about Bin Laden.... after the 911 attacks.

Anyways, I don't think this line is significant in that it is a boon to conspiracy theories, but a boon to the eyewitness who said he saw another plane behing that flight before it went down. I don't actively look into 9/11 theories, so I can't provide a link.

[Wilms]

20. Very good point.

Rather than risk getting caught in a trap, I'm trying to stick with unanswered questions and verifiable holes in the official story as a starting point.

They also make for powerful talking points, since without offering any conclusions, they'll sometimes get people thinking.

[FDRrocks]

21. Thanks....and....

WELCOME TO DU :)

But I am sure you have gotten that many times. :)

[Dover]

26. Maybe this 'slip-up' was intentional to prepare the public for some

new information about the plane being shot down. If it comes to light (through the 9/11 Commission report or elsewhere) that the plane was indeed shot down, then they have to start creating a fall guy to take the rap.

So they can blame it on the 'terrorists' rather than on our own people.

[Sterling]

44. The only reason he would do that would be because the CT's are right.

If you read the quote however it is clear that this was not something he planned on saying. It fumbled from his mouth before he could stop it.

"but a boon to the eyewitness who said he saw another plane behing that flight before it went down"

And at this point this is a CT as well as the "official version" of events, it to is a CT. Hard to tell which one is closer to the truth.

[Dover]

16. Didn't Cheney also make a reference to the plane being shot down?

Can't remember where I read it, but it was a transcript...maybe in the 9/11 commission's report?

And speaking of that, what ever happen to the BIG news around that report which was going to be put off until after the election before being released?

[cliss]

19. Interesting.

I'm beginning to think that the longer RumsFailed stays, the more we'll hear. I think he's under tremendous strain. He knows the war in Iraq is a huge catastrophic failure. It's only a matter of time before public opinion is going to have a huge change of heart. He's trying to figure out what to do next.

RumsFool's slipping up lately. His arrogant smirk is a little droopier these days.

I think it's great the old goat is blabbing. He's bound to let some other cats out of the bag. Keep talking, buddy.

Now as far as Cheney saying something about this, you can always go to Google and search under 'Cheney makes reference to plane being shot down' and you'll probably get something. There's so much out there on the net.

[Griffy]

25. I thought so too.. because it was.. 1 engine was found a mile away..

from the rest of the wreckage... i.e heat seeker hits engine.. it flys of forward.. and the plane goes down. 2 trajectories... I believe they didnt give the ppl on board time... or wouldn't wait to see if they could take back the plane.. whats a few more dead heros to use to further your own cause! someday we may know...

[Ready4Change]

57. Another theory of mine.

What if the passengers on this flight HAD regained control, and managed to land safely, perhaps with a living hijacker or two, willing to spill some very inconvenient beans?

[SoCalDem]

50. Supposedly when Cheney "arrived" at the WH, he was "under the impression"

that TWO planes had been shot down.. at least that's what was initially reported.. He was then questioned because they wantedc to know WHEN *² ordered the "shoot-down"..

The subject was quickly changed, and then the topics all shifted to other stuff.

[Bouncy Ball]

17. Repukes tell so many lies

after a while they have a hard time keeping them straight. Watch for this to happen more and more over the next four years.

[c1dem]

22. Rummy blew it

What really happened to the plane in Pennsylvania? I'm betting Rummy had a Freudian slip.

[Paintedlady]

23. He finally told the truth

he didn't mean to, but being tired and under stress he forgot the lie and told the truth.
I hope he stays stressed.

[shraby]

24. Rummy is in his 70s and apparently

having trouble remembering what the official story is on stuff. If they didn't lie so much about everything, he probably would be able to remember easier. Now he can't keep the truth and the lie separate so I expect to see more of the truth coming out when they least expect it to.

[steely]

28. So nice of Donald to come out and clear that one up himself....

Not. Lest he call more negative attention to himself again.

These guys are all following a script, and deciding who should speak where and when - notice how no one on the white house staff came out - they separate themsleves from problems by spreading the disinformation sources.

[illbill]

29. The Daily Show...

showed a great description of that a few months back. I understand exactly what you mean.

[Disturbed]

31. Speaking about 911,

what ever happened to that CIA report that was supposed to come out before the election?

I suspect that Flight 393 was shot down but that the paasengers were trying to bring it down, as well. It looks better to the public that they were heroes and not as pleasing that the plane was shot down so the Govt. went with the hero story.

[Vidar]

30. New Rummy motto: "Missiles for all, armor for none."

[Voltaire99]

32. The slur of "conspiracy theory"

In our age of chloroformed truth, skepticism is the first breath of the still-kicking citizen.

But it's a measure of how much conformity now defines this society of so-called individuals that any narratives running counter to official pronouncements must be "conspiracy theories"--at best, sneer-worthy. This trend in American life was already well underway before 9/11, but it's especially nasty now.

CNN is doing its small part for the war effort--er, I mean the whore effort, ensuring that Rumsfeld's slip goes unquestioned.

To quote Jamie Delano,

"This is not living. Where are the men of righteous rage--the women who know the worth of life. We need you."

[indepat]

33. Makes one wonder if Rummy has misspoken on other issues, or misinformed,

or distorted, or glossed over, or evaded.

[clem_c_rock]

34. Only so many lies can be told

before you fuck up and slip the truth.

Anyone who isn't doubting the Warren, er' 911 commission's pathetic story by now needs a head kickin' for being gullible or, just plain uninformed.

[leesa]

35. I agree. He's pretending terrorists other than the ones in the WH shot

the plane down. When will the pressure become so great that one of the Bush Crime Family blows the whistle on their involvement in 9-11?

[Robb]

36. Hm.

As a card-carrying tinfoil hat club member, I didn't think twice about it as anything but a misspoken word. Forgot about it, even.

But now, now they've bothered to address it. ;)

[Massachusetts]

37. Praise Geesus! I have seen the light

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

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[infusionman]

38. What else has he mispoken on???

Lets here it PENTAGON!

[Sterling]

43. Well he knows who attacked NYC, DC and shot down that plane.

And they are indeed the same people.

www.shadowgov.info

[XemaSab]

46. I'd say

this and other Sept 11 conspiracies were well into foil-hat time, but for one thing:

They tried to put Kissinger in charge of the probe.

:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[gatorboy]

47. So he either lied about 9/11 or he's senile

Neither of which are good news for him.

If he lied, then we deserve some answers and he should step down.

If he's senile then he still needs to step down....It's not very good if the Secretary of Defense is losing his marbles...

[ally_sc]

51. he lied

he is going to step down anyway for sure after this...i will go for the fact that these "conspiracy theories" get more crediable everyday.

[omulcol]

52. Flight 93 shot down by a " Happy Hooligan" ?

Is the Rick Gibney Flight 93 Story a Hoax?

Alex Jones' Prison Planet
INFOWARS.COM Radio
June 29 2004

Yesterday we were able to confirm that Colonel Don de Grand-pre claims he spoke face to face with Maj. Rick Gibney and Gibney told him that he was the pilot who shot down Flight 93.

http://www.prisonplanet.tv/articles/june2004/062904rickgibney.htm

[VegasWolf]

48. Too bad AssCroft is not around, he could use some of his ceremonial

snakes to cure Rummy's wayward tounge.

[Rex]

49. Like it would make a difference!

Even if Rummy came out and admitted that WE shot down flight 93, it won't change a thing. Big Media works for the BFEE, and Red Staters would just say "oh well, another secret to valuable to be told". I should know what they will say, I live in the Belly of the Beast! :(

[shiina]

55. wasn't there another one?

Wasn't there another time when he "misspoke" and said something that conformed more with the "conspiracy theories" that with the official story about 9/11?

There was the time when he kept calling Iraq "Vietnam"...
And the time when he got Hussein and bin Laden mixed up...

But I could have sworn there was another big "oops" a while back.

[theEmpireNeverEnded]

58. the pentagon missile

On 10/12/01 he said a missle hit the pentagon.

"Here we're talking about plastic knives and using an American Airlines flight filed with our citizens, and the missile to damage this building and similar (inaudible) that damaged the World Trade Center."

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2001/t11182001_t1012pm.html

[ObamaFan2500]

56. He Probably Did, But Still

This is the same guy, who was very reticent back in the 1983 about shaking hands with bin Laden in Baghdad when they sold the chemical weapons. I remebmer seeing the picture at the George Washington University Archive project. He is BEGGING for piracy theory when he shakes a PROVEN terrorists hand, then sells him enough gas to kill 30 million Curds.

[fortyfeetunder]

59. Damage control once again

For months since 9/11, people wondered about the sequence of events that day. And those who had even suggested a shootdown of any plane was dismissed as a tinfoil hat. It was like a game of connecting the dots and a few were missing. Rumsfeld just provided us the line between two more dots.

The Pentagon knows now the Pandora's box is open, and their lame attempt in damage control once again. Good luck in closing it boys and girls.