My Personal Remembrances of 9/11 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    It was a lovely September day and we were working on a big pine tree in Tarboro. It had to be dropped just right and gently to prevent yard damage to an elegant front yard in a nice neighborhood of that lovely town in Edgecombe County.

    We had everything ready for the drop when my elderly lady customer came out and said, "A plane has just crashed into one of the Twin Towers in NYC!" I went inside to see what was happening. In a few minutes the second plane hit in a ball of flame and debris --- penetrating the 2nd Twin Tower. Both were now spewing flames and smoke all over.

    I was paying 2 men, but that didn't matter. Soon there was word of another plane hitting the Pentagon. Another report came of a 4th plane apparently crashing somewhere in western Pennsylvania. I was not long before everyone realized this was no accident.

    I have a good friend and customer in Nashville who is a retired USAF pilot. He told me, in a discussion afterward, about the Standing Order to intercept and force down any hijacked or unidentified aircraft in US-controlled airspace.

    Some years previous, before the advent of GPS navigation which allows anyone to know within 20' exactly where you are, he was rushed into the air! In his case, he was on watch at a base on the East Coast. An unidentified blip came on the radar and he was immediately launched to intercept it. He had the coordinates and his air controller directed him further. Within a few minutes at Mach speed he was within eyesight of the target. His Phantom jet was loud, but powerful --- and over water there were no sonic boom restrictions.

    His commander instructed him to identify. He reported it as a large commercial aircraft with guidance lights on. "Light it up and report the tail number," was his order. He did so with his landing lights to perfection. The controller then called the jet to tell them --- either turn on the transponder or risk being blown out of the sky. They did. The matter was ended. He knew nothing more of what transpired when that jet landed. I suspect the pilot may have lost his license to fly. That carrier certainly got a stiff fine according to rules of flight in US airspace.

    Some weeks later, dressed in civilian clothes, he flew overseas on that company's plane. A stewardess got to chatting with him after initial duties were through. She shared a story of her flight a few weeks back. They were beginning their descent into JFK in New York. Suddenly, a blinding light had passed by at great speed and everyone was diving for cover. It scared them all to death!

    He just smiled and said nothing! It was interesting to hear the story from inside the aircraft he had intercepted in the dark of night with only radar guidance and a commander keeping a cool head in a possible National Emergency. It was a human error intrusion. End of story.

    I know by my friends account how serious a Standing Order is and how accurate our USAF can be in their normal vigilant mode. Remember, it was the olden days of radar and headings on mechanical devices then installed in every jet fighter of the USAF. It was "dead on" accurate and more than fast response time to protect our nation.

    Sooooo --- what happened on 9/11???

    The same Standing Order was in place. It can only not be followed without a Countermanding Order. That order comes ONLY from the upper levels of Command. It takes the Commander-In-Chief (President) or someone in the chain at the highest level to countermand any Standing Order. We are talking Strategic Air Command as the Agency of vigilance.

    Now here is my question which is still unanswered in all these 13 years since 9/11: How is it that 4 clearly hijacked commercial airliners flew over the most heavily Air-Forced and Air-Controlled area of the US without a single one being intercepted and forced down???

    George W. Bush, III was the President on that awful day. We have pictures of him in Florida being informed that something was happening. Instead of immediately excusing himself from a photo op of students reading in class, he sat there with a blank expression on his face. When that session and photo op ended, he got up in a normal fashion and went out. He was whisked to Air Force One. The analysis indicates abject confusion on all parts of this government.

    You remember when there was confusion over who was in charge during the sedation of Ronald Reagan as a result of a bullet to his lung. At that time old Alexander Haig stepped to the microphone to announce he had the football under his care. The "football" is the case with all the nuclear codes that only the President oversees. Haig got his tail roasted over not knowing the Constitutional line of succession --- President / Vice President / Senate President pro tem.

    It's not when things are going normally that we need people who "know what is happening and how." It lets me know that we have a false sense of security in this country. The TSA "magic" of finding anyone with a bomb is a farce. Once in a while they are tested by the Secret Service and fail miserably---despite all us ticketed passengers having to submit to all kinds of searches with shoes off.

    One of the Ticket Agents who put one of the hijackers (Mohamed Atta) on a commuter flight purposely made him recheck his baggage at Logan Airport. He noted the strange look on Atta's face and was troubled by it. He had no power to do anything and only used his common sense not to check the luggage through. Atta's luggage was late and we had some clues to what was going on with him internally. He fully expected his "more than neat" clothing to be incinerated in the carnage he intended to produce.

    Hindsight is always 20/20. We know much now, but WHO COUNTERMANDED THE STANDING ORDER that could have stopped it before it happened with the following 3 planes?

    The Standing Order means a fast fighter intercepts the questionable aircraft. He and his wingman come up alongside and do a "wheels-down-wheels-up" international signal saying, "I order you to land immediately!" They might do it a second time before going behind the aircraft and awaiting orders to launch their missiles no matter what happens to a few innocent people. Better that a few die than that those planes become instruments of destruction.

    I shall never forget that day. I shall never stop asking my question. Now, since President Bush did an Executive Order to double the Statute of Limitations over National Security records that are available for the public to inspect (John Dean—"Worse Than Watergate"), we will only be able to speculate. I will never "know."

    We still don't have full access to the JFK assassination records. That will come in a few more years. Since I witnessed that tragedy as a college freshman, I am anxious for time to expire.

    Why would any President double the time required for public access in his first term? Surely it had nothing to do with re-examination of the botched Florida vote between him and Al Gore.

    We already know all the principals are gone when we can finally look to our hearts content in a nation supposedly relying on a free press --- and ability to overcome the dark of National Security matters.