On 9/11 - Rumsfeld Fiddled - While Cheney Ran the Country

[kpete]

On 9/11, Rumsfeld Fiddled While Cheney Ran the Country

— By James Ridgeway
| Wed Feb. 9, 2011 9:47 AM PST

In her interview with last night with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, author of a new autobiography, Diane Sawyer asked him about a tough decision he had to make on the morning of 9/11. Was it not difficult, she asked, to order military pilots to shoot down passenger jets that the government believed to be hijacked and headed targets in Washington–maybe the White House, maybe the Capitol. For a moment, Rumsfeld dropped his generally arrogant stance, and instead looked as if he were about to cry as he recalled the agony he went through in making the decision.

It might have been a poignant moment, were it not for the fact that Rumsfeld didn’t make the decision. It was Vice President Dick Cheney who made the decision. And it was Cheney who was running the country with a confused Rumfeld watching from the sidelines.

When the nation is threatened, it is the President, the Commander-in-Chief who must make the decision to engage the military. Under the law, he orders the Secretary of Defense to implement his commands down through the military chain of command. While President Bush was being shuttled around from bunker to bunker, on the morning of September 11, 2001, supposedly out of cell phone contact at times, Rumsfeld was next in line. But Rumsfeld’s role on 9/11 has always been a mystery. In his new book, on page 339, the former secretary of Defense casts a little light on what he did that morning .

Feeling the Pentagon shake when American Airlines Flight 77 hit at 9:38, and seeing the smoke, Rumsfeld, by his own report, rushed into the Pentagon parking lot, which was in chaos amid frantic rescue efforts and treating the wounded. Then he returned to his office. He spoke briefly to Bush, who was on Air Force One flying around somewhere in the southeast, who wanted to know about the damage to the Pentagon. From there Rumsfeld went to the military command post in the basement. And there, he writes, heeding the advice of General Dick Myers, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who wa also in the room, he raised the threat level to a state of alert, and launched fighters to protect Air Force One. Rumsfeld was supposed to be removed to a secret site, but he says he was ”unwilling to be out of touch during the time it would take to relocate me to the safe site.’’
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http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/911-rumsfeld-fiddled-while-cheney-ran-country

[Major Hogwash]

1. Rumsfeld has been out of touch with reality since 1969.

And he was a willing participant in the "let's let them bomb America campaign", too.

Bet on it.

[indepat]

2. Seem to recall Rummie not knowing of the 9-11 attacks until the Pentagon was struck which is

incredibly amazing, given Rummie's place in the chain of command. Most curious indeed. :patriot:

[spanone]

3. out of work and selling a book...nothing more. they lie about their lies