The American Empire and 9/11 - Journal of 9/11 Studies

sources, that contradicted the official account. Thisdiscovery started a process that led me to publish The NewPearl Harbor, 16 which summarized much of the evidence thathad been discovered by previous researchers---evidence, Iconcluded, that provided a “strong prima facie case forofficial complicity.” 17 I will summarize some of thisevidence in terms of six questions.I. How Could Hijacked Airliners Have Struck the WTC and thePentagon?If standard operating procedures of the FAA and the U.S.military had been carried out on 9/11, AA Flight 11 and UAFlight 175 would have been intercepted before they reachedManhattan, and Flight 77 would have been intercepted longbefore it could have reached the Pentagon. Suchinterceptions are routine, being carried out about 100 timesa year. A month after 9/11, the Calgary Herald reported thatin the year 2000, NORAD had scrambled fighters 129 times.Just a few days after 9/11, Major Mike Snyder, a NORADspokesperson, told the Boston Globe that “[NORAD’s] fightersroutinely intercept aircraft.” 18 Why did such interceptionsnot occur on 9/11? We have never been given a plausibleexplanation. Indeed, we have received three mutuallyinconsistent stories.In the first few days, military officials said that nofighter jets were sent up by NORAD until after the strike onthe Pentagon at 9:38, even though signs that Flight 11 was16 David Ray Griffin, The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions aboutthe Bush Administration and 9/11 (Northampton, Mass.: Olive Branch,2004).17 Ibid., xxiii.18 Calgary Herald, Oct. 13, 2001; Glen Johnson, “Otis Fighter JetsScrambled Too Late to Halt the Attacks,” Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 2001[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=print]).5