MILITARY JETS HAVE NEVER BEEN AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT DOWN CIVILIAN PASSENGER AIRCRAFT INSIDE THE UNITED STATES
Hijacking ALWAYS Before Handled by FBI Through Negotiation. There Was no "Stand Down" of Military Interceptors on 9/11. They Never "Stood Up"
Conspiracy theorists lie about the failure of military aircraft to intercept the hijacked aircraft.
The Posse comitatus law forbids the military from conducting domestic law enforcement inside the United States.
HERE IS THE REGULATION that Governs Military Interceptions of Hijacked Airliners: Military DID NOT "Stand Down" on 9/11, because it NEVER "stood up." The military provides "ESCORT jets" at FAA request -- NEVER was Authorized to Shoot Down Airliners.
At the time, ALL training and procedures for hijackings called for non-confrontational, non-violent negotiations with the hijackers, because experience had shown before 9/11 that hijackings always ended peacefully. The FBI was in charge because hijacking is a Federal crime. The US Air Force might -- on request -- go up and simply WATCH, reporting back to the FAA and FBI what they saw.
NEVER in the history of the United States was the military ever authorized to fire upon CIVILIAN passenger aircraft inside the United States. Such an action would be horrifying to the honor and ethics of military personnel. Pilots would be justified in refusing to obey such an order as an unlawful order, except in extraordinary circumstances.
Of the Four Passenger Jets Hijacked by Muslim Al Qaeda Terrorists on 9/11,
American Airlines Flight 11 hit the World Trade Center first at 8:46 AM -- which was believed to be an accident.
United Airlines flight 175 hit the World Trade Center second at 9:03 AM -- which was the first indication that the actions were intentional.
Air traffic controllers believed that flight 175 was going to LAND at a New York airport. The hijacker pilot had announced on the radio that there was a bomb on board and the plane was returning to the airport. So the FAA believed that flight 175 was going to land.
So, only the 3rd and 4th aircraft could potentially have been intercepted. It was not until the 2nd aircraft (flight 175) hit the 2nd WTC Tower that people realized this was intentional, rather than an unintended accident. The first 2 airplanes were already gone -- and the WTC was already doomed -- before anyone realized that this was an intentional attack.
American Airlines Flight 77 disappeared from radar around 8:56 AM, while in a steep dive, losing altitude rapidly.
The air traffic controllers simultaneously lost radio contact, the transponder signal ("squawk" or return), and a physical signal on radar -- all at the same time. At the same time, American Airlines could not contact Flight 77 on the airline's operations radio net, either.
Therefore, air traffic controllers concluded that American Airlines Flight 77 had CRASHED -- and was not headed anywhere.
The FAA did not notify NORAD that Flight 77 was hijacked until around 9:33 AM..
Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon 5 minutes later at 9:38 AM.
Flight 77 was not detected again until around 9:25 AM when airport tower radar operators at Dulles Airport, in Northern Virginia, detected an unknown aircraft approaching Dulles (and Washington DC beyond to the East) at a high rate of speed. There was no transponder signal. The Dulles radar operators assumed that the aircraft was a military aircraft. It was not until around 9:33 AM that they notified FAA headquarters, controllers at Reagan National Airport closer to Washington, D.C., and the Secret Service protecting the White House.
Between 9:16 and 9:26 AM, Barbara Olson called her husband Solicitor General Ted Olson at the Department of Justice from the airplane, and reported that Muslim hijackers using boxcutters had hijacked the plane and herded the passengers and crew into the back of the airplane. Barbara had been in First Class near the hijackers. (The hijackers sat in First Class to be near the cockpit door.)
Ted Olson attempted to reach the Attorney General, his boss, to report the hijacking, and attempted to reach other officials. Notably, the Solicitor General (who argues in the U.S. Supreme Court) is not part of the military chain of command and plays no role in mobilizing military action.
However, since Barbara Olson did not know where Flight 77 was or where it was heading, this information would not have helped. Ted Olson ould not tell the FAA or NORAD where Flight 77 was or where it was going, because Barbara Olson did not know. When Ted Olson asked where the plane was, Barbara looked out the window and answered only "I see some houses." This indicates that the plane was flying extremely low, so that individual houses could be seen clearly. But this information would be useless in intercepting the airplane.
Meanwhile, interceptor jets scrambled from Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts followed their standing orders and flew out over the Atlantic Ocean. Their standard assignment was to protect the American nation against attacks coming from OUTSIDE the borders of the USA. Even knowing about events in NYC, the concern was that those were the early steps of a full-blown invasion. Their duty was to go to a pre-designated place off the Eastern seaboard and "orbit" and watch to intercept any approaching aircraft.
When NORAD redirected the interceptors back towards Washington, DC, the FAA provided information to NORAD that the aircraft approaching Washington, DC, was approaching FROM THE NORTH from the New York City area. Therefore, the interceptor planes were looking NORTH of Washington, D.C., not to the West where Flight 77 was approaching. These communications were all routinely recorded and are available to prove these facts.
It appears that Barbara attempted to use her cell phone and then used the in-flight official phone provided on the aircraft. (Note: Although there is some skepticism about whether Flight 77 had SEAT BACK in-flight phones -- that is, a phone for EVERY SEAT in the aircraft -- there is no question that Flight 77 had official airline in-flight phones for passenger use near the stewardess stations, in the front and the back.)
Therefore, only the fourth plane Flight 93 could potentially have been intercepted. Flight 93 was confused with another Delta flight, and controllers lost track of Flight 93 for a time.
Vice President Dick Cheney entered the PEOC underground command center under the White House around 10 AM, and around 10:10 to 10:15 AM Cheney relayed President Bush's decision -- for the first time in American history -- to order the US military to shoot down civilian passenger aircraft inside the United States if they refused orders.
Why didn't military intercept airplanes? On 9/11, FAA thought 2nd airplane was trying to LAND at NYC area airport.
NO SHOOT DOWN ORDERS... 1994: AIRPLANE HITS WHITE HOUSE -- Time Magazine
COULD AN AIRPLANE HIT A BUILDING IN WASHINGTON DC? 1994: AIRPLANE HITS WHITE HOUSE -- Official Report
Airplane that HIT White House in 1994 was TRACKED on radar, NOT shot down
WHY DIDN'T AIR FORCE JETS INTERCEPT THE HIJACKED AIRPLANES? DETAILED REVIEW by Aviation Week & Space Technology, June 3, 2002
On Sept. 11, the normal scramble-approval procedure was for an FAA official to contact the National Military Command Center (NMCC) and request Pentagon air support. Someone in the NMCC would call Norad's command center and ask about availability of aircraft, then seek approval from the Defense Secretary--Donald H. Rumsfeld--to launch fighters.
The US military would never knowingly shoot down civilian passenger aircraft on 9/11, without special orders. In 1988, the Navy cruiser U.S.S. Vincennes accidentally shot down an Iranian civilian airliner Airbus A300, killing all 298 civilians. Officers on the Vincennes believed its was an Iranian F-14 fighter jet attacking. The tragedy was a huge international scandal. Three years later in 2001, the military was extremely gun-shy.
Decision to Shoot Down Civilian Passenger Aircraft was made AFTER 9:55 AM -- for the first time evern in American history.
QUOTE: "The plane accelerated down the runway and then almost stood on its tail as it climbed rapidly out of the airport. It was 9:55 a.m. Once airborne, Bush spoke again to Cheney, who said the combat air patrol needed rules of engagement if pilots encountered an aircraft that might be under the control of hijackers. Cheney recommended that Bush authorize the military to shoot down any such civilian airliners -- as momentous a decision as the president was asked to make in those first hours. "I said, 'You bet,' " Bush recalled. "We had a little discussion, but not much."
Bush then talked to Rumsfeld to clarify the procedures military pilots should follow in trying to force an unresponsive plane to the ground before opening fire on it. First, pilots would seek to make radio contact with the other plane and tell the pilot to land at a specific location. If that failed, the pilots were to use visual signals. These included having the fighters fly in front of the other plane.
If the plane continued heading toward what was seen as a significant target with apparently hostile intent, the U.S. pilot would have the authority to shoot it down. With Bush's approval, Rumsfeld passed the order down the chain of command.
In the White House bunker, a military aide approached the vice president. "There is a plane 80 miles out," he said. "There is a fighter in the area. Should we engage?"
"Yes," Cheney replied without hesitation. Around the vice president, Rice, deputy White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, tensed as the military aide repeated the question, this time with even more urgency. The plane was now 60 miles out.
"Should we engage?" Cheney was asked.
"Yes," he replied again. As the plane came closer, the aide repeated the question. Does the order still stand?
"Of course it does," Cheney snapped. The vice president said later that it had seemed "painful, but nonetheless clear-cut. And I didn't agonize over it."
It was, "obviously, a very significant action," Cheney said in an interview. "You're asking American pilots to fire on a commercial airliner full of civilians. On the other hand, you had directly in front of me what had happened to the World Trade Center, and a clear understanding that once the plane was hijacked, it was a weapon."
Within minutes, there was a report that a plane had crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania -- what turned out to be United Flight 93, a Boeing 757 that had been hijacked after leaving Newark International Airport. Many of those in the PEOC feared that Cheney's order had brought down a civilian aircraft. Rice demanded that someone check with the Pentagon.
On Air Force One, Bush inquired, "Did we shoot it down or did it crash?"
It took the Pentagon almost two hours to confirm that the plane had not been shot down, an enormous relief. "I think an act of heroism occurred on board that plane," Cheney said. Later, reports of cell phone conversations before the plane crashed indicated that some passengers had fought with the hijackers."
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9/11 REALITY 
