Norman Mineta
 Norman Mineta    | |
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US Secretary of Transportation whose revealing testimony to the 9-11 commission was covered up in their final report. |
Norman Mineta was United States Secretary of Transportation on the day of 9-11 who gave a revealing testimony before the 9-11/Commission implied that incoming fire on the Pentagon was subject to a stand down order.
Contents
Testimony to the 9/11 Commission
Norman Mineta testified before the 9/11 Commission that, in the command bunker known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 was being tracked on radar as it approached the Pentagon, between 9:26a.m. and 9:37, and a junior officer kept asking Cheney if the order regarding the shooting down of unresponsive aircraft was still in effect. Bush’s authorization after the Pentagon was hit implies that before this, there was no standing order to shoot down possibly hostile aircraft. The standing order would therefore have been not to shoot. In answer Cheney replied in the negative, that the standing order should not be reversed. In the official transcript of Mineta’s testimony before the Commission, Mineta says:
...I was made aware of it during the time that the airplane coming into the Pentagon. There was a young man who had come in and said to the vice president, “The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out.” And when it got down to, “The plane is 10 miles out,” the young man also said to the vice president, “Do the orders still stand?” And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, “Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?”
Norman Mineta, 9/11 Commission Testimony[1]
9/11 Commission Report
On page 41 of the 9/11 Commission Report, in the chapter “We Have Some Planes,” the Commission clearly echoes what is meant to be Mineta’s testimony, while changing the most critical aspects of it. Mineta’s actual testimony never appears in the report, although a pale shadow of it remains, with the clearly deceptive intent of placing Cheney in the command bunker, and watching the radar, only after the Pentagon had been hit. The Commission writes:
“At some time between 10:10 and 10:15, a military aide told the Vice President and others that the aircraft was 80 miles out. Vice President Cheney was asked for authority to engage the aircraft. His reaction was described by Scooter Libby as quick and decisive, “in about the time it takes a batter to decide to swing.” The Vice President authorized fighter aircraft to engage the inbound plane. He told us he based this authorization on his earlier conversation with the President. The military aide returned a few minutes later, probably between 10:12 and 10:18, and said the aircraft was 60 miles out. He again asked for authorization to engage. The Vice President again said yes.”
Norman Mineta, 9/11 Commission report[1]
Later activities
After resigning as transport secretary, Mineta has not had any government jobs. After leaving the Bush administration, Mineta became vice chairman of Hill & Knowlton on July 24, 2006.
Quotes by Norman Mineta
| Page | Quote | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| "9-11/Israel did it" | “There were continuing moments of alarm. A panel truck with a painting of a plane flying into the World Trade Center was stopped near the temporary command post. It proved to be rented to a group of ethnic Middle Eastern people who did not speak English. Fearing that it might be a truck bomb, the NYPD immediately evacuated the area, called out the bomb squad, and detained the occupants until a thorough search was made. The vehicle was found to be an innocent delivery truck.”<a href="#cite_note-30">[30]</a>” | February 2006 | |
| 9-11/Pentagon | “At some time between 10:10 and 10:15, a military aide told the Vice President and others that the aircraft was 80 miles out. Vice President Cheney was asked for authority to engage the aircraft. His reaction was described by Scooter Libby as quick and decisive, “in about the time it takes a batter to decide to swing.” The Vice President authorized fighter aircraft to engage the inbound plane. He told us he based this authorization on his earlier conversation with the President. The military aide returned a few minutes later, probably between 10:12 and 10:18, and said the aircraft was 60 miles out. He again asked for authorization to engage. The Vice President again said yes.” | 9-11/Commission/Report |
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:How They Get Away With It | essay | 28 June 2006 | Michael B. Green | The mechanics of a cover-up |
| File:AdamMinetaClarkePaper.pdf | report | 2006 | Adam Letalik | Norman Mineta and Richard Clarke Contradict the 9/11 Commission Report |
| File:The mineta testimony.pdf | report | 2005 | Gregor Holland | 9/11 Commission Report - one year later ... The Mineta Testimony: 9/11 Commission Exposed |
