“Major airlines, corporate jets, crop dusters, even aircraft involved in skydiving are back in service. But 10 days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington [September 21, 2001], many flight training schools are still closed for business. The Federal government has prohibited most flight training exercises, effectively grounding operations at more than 1,500 […]
Category: quotes
9/21/2001
“At the Pentagon today [September 21, 2001], Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a second deployment order, meaning that nearly 100 bomber and support airplanes are now being sent to the Persian Gulf. About 175 warplanes were already based in the gulf region, primarily to enforce the no-flight zone over southern Iraq.” – David E. […]
9/21/2001
On September 21, 2001, when a senior Bush Administration official was asked about the US’s response to the 9/11 attacks, he replied: ” ‘The president said last night we begin with bin Laden, but it doesn’t end there,’… States that sponsor terrorism are to have a chance ‘to turn over a new leaf,’ the official […]
9/21/2001
“Ten days after the attacks [September 21, 2001], [Deputy Chief in the Office of Legal Counsel John] Yoo wrote an internal memo arguing that the NSA [National Security Agency] could use ‘electronic surveillance techniques and equipment that are more powerful and sophisticated than those available to law enforcement agencies in order to intercept telephonic communications […]
9/21/2001
“Ten days after the attacks, on September 21, 2001, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that there was no credible evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks, nor was there strong reason to believe Iraq had collaborated with Al-Qaeda.” – Craig Unger, The Fall of the House of Bush, Page 217 […]
9/21/2001
On September 21, 2001, “the Voice of America radio network interviewed [Taliban leader] Mullah [Mohammad] Omar. When the interviewer asked if bin Laden would be handed over to the United States, the Taliban leader put the issue in the most cosmic of terms: ‘We cannot do that. If we did, it means we are not […]
9/21/2001
“On September 21 [2001], [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld received from [Central Command leader] General [Tommy] Franks the first draft of a battle plan [for attacking Afghanistan], Operation Enduring Freedom. On October 2, [President] Bush approved the four-phase plan that would lead to the defeat of the Taliban regime. There was no commitment to reconstruct […]
9/20/2001
“On Sept. 19 and 20 [2001], the Defense Policy Board, a prestigious bipartisan board of national security experts that advises the Pentagon, met for 19 hours to discuss the ramifications of the attacks of Sept. 11. The members of the group agreed on the need to turn to Iraq as soon as the initial phase […]
9/20/2001
“To [U.K. Prime Minister] Tony Blair’s urging, during a dinner at the White House on September 20 [2001], that the focus ought to remain on overthrowing the Taliban, [President] Bush responded, ‘I agree with you, Tony. We must deal with this first. But when we have dealt with Afghanistan, we must come back to Iraq.’ […]
9/20/2001
Secretary of State Colin Powell “argued that to undertake a broad military campaign, especially including Iraq–whose civilian population draws great sympathy in the Middle East for the suffering it has endured since 1991–would undermine the support [President] Mr. Bush needs now.” – Patrick E. Tyler and Elaine Sciolino, “Bush’s Advisers Split on Scope Of Retaliation,” […]