Why did Norad lie to the 9/11 comission? Even the commission couldn't figure out why.?

Question

We to this day don't know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. . . . It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."
For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD and the FAA provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media appearances. Authorities suggested that U.S. air defenses had reacted quickly, that jets had been scrambled in response to the last two hijackings and that fighters were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington.

In fact, the commission reported a year later, audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and at one point chased a phantom aircraft - American Airlines Flight 11 -

....long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold and Col. Alan Scott told the commission that NORAD had begun tracking United 93 at 9:16 a.m., but the commission determined that the airliner was not hijacked until 12 minutes later. The military was not aware of the flight until after it had crashed in Pennsylvania.

These and other discrepancies did not become clear until the commission, forced to use subpoenas, obtained audiotapes from the FAA and NORAD, officials said. The agencies' reluctance to release the tapes -- along with e-mails, erroneous public statements and other evidence -- led some of the panel's staff members and commissioners to believe that authorities sought to mislead the commission and the public about what happened on Sept. 11.

"I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described," John Farmer, former New Jersey attorney general who led the staff inquiry into events on Sept. 11.

"The tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years. . . . This is not spin. This is not true."

Answer 1

I have read with great interest your question and review. If what you say is true, it points to a shadow government, because of the repeated pattern of mis-information of the facts that skew the truth. I would not go as far as a Conspiracy, but I will say that this could be one example of a delayed and uncoordinated reaction to a lapse in National Security. The Government has liability, to some degree like an insurance company whose charge is to protect the American public, to a greater degree for this same reason, neither will be "wrong". Let's face it, when it comes to plain speak, the government is not accountable to the public in language as well as action. When you look at the big picture, all the Hurricanes that hit our shores, the 911 tragedy, Walter Reed Hospital debacle, the decision to go to Iraq as a result of 911, this tells us, we are duly entitled to lip service. I wouldn't want my worse enemy to have to depend on the government for a straight answer or a timely accurate response.

Answer 2

Better question is why do you rely on the 9/11 commission when it had unreliable people on it, who should not have been on the board but testifying in front of it and explaining why her actions were responsible for the lack of intelligence of the attack before it happened?

Certainly is a great way to cover her own behind, isn't it Jamie S. Gorelic? Be on the commission that investigates your failures and blame everyone else.

whale

Answer 3

Took me a while too, only last year, i didn't know enough about history to believe that sort of thing could be conceivable but its happened so many times in the past and the evidence presented recently by Architects, Engineers and Scientists confirms it, seems stupid to believe those buildings fell like they did due to fire looking at it now, its not even remotely possible.

Answer 4

Very sad isnt it? One of those questions that we will probably never get accurate answers to. Sort of like the teflon President not ever fully explaining what he knew prior to 9/11 and why NYC wasnt properly informed of what he knew. The rest of the country may believe that the teflon President slipped out of that one, but I assure you that in NYC, our memories are LONG and we will never forget. We have many questions that were never answered to our satisfaction. Pax - C