Mineta's testimony not part of 9/11 report

Mutton-Head

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Why was Norman Mineta's testimony not part of 9/11 commission report? His account of the events that occurred in the PEOC completely differ with the official report. He claims Cheney was there 40 minutes before the report does. He claims they were watching flight 77 head for the Pentagon for at least 15 minutes. The report claims they didn't know where 77 was until a minute or two before it crashed.
 
Mutton-Head said:
Why was Norman Mineta's testimony not part of 9/11 commission report? His account of the events that occurred in the PEOC completely differ with the official report. He claims Cheney was there 40 minutes before the report does. He claims they were watching flight 77 head for the Pentagon for at least 15 minutes. The report claims they didn't know where 77 was until a minute or two before it crashed.
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Mutton-Head! You're back!
FAA notification to the military about flight 77's position was 13 minutes before it struck the Pentagon. If Mineta knew it was headed for the Pentagon, he should apply for Randi's million-dollar challenge.

Or he should be arrested!
 
Mineta says that an officer was saying "the plane is 50 miles out... The plane is 30 miles out..." etc. Cheney and the others in the PEOC are tracking the plane, and know that it is headed for the Pentagon.
 
Money-Lover said:
Cheney and the others in the PEOC are tracking the plane, and know that it is headed for the Pentagon.
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Your evidence?
Edit: Welcome, Money-Lover!
Your evidence?
 
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In Mineta's testimony to Lee Hamilton, he claims that at around 9:26, a young man in the PEOC is informing Cheney about a plane's approach. The young man gives Cheney updates every 10 miles. Have you seen this video?
 
My point is, if they are tracking the plane, for at least 15 minutes by Mineta's account, why is no warning given to the Pentagon?
 
Mutton-Head said:
My point is, if they are tracking the plane, for at least 15 minutes by Mineta's account, why is no warning given to the Pentagon?
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According to your timing it would be 12 minutes.
Mutton-Head, are you suggesting that someone knew the plane was headed for the Pentagon?
 
Mineta arrives at 9:20. Five minutes later, Cheney is informed that "the plane is 50 miles out.." At 9:36, the plane hits the Pentagon. From the time Mineta enters the PEOC to the time the Pentagon is hit, is about 15 minutes. Since Mineta arrives after Cheney is made aware that a plane is indeed headed towards the Pentagon, or the White house, we can infer that they have been watching the plane for at least 15 minutes.
 
Mutton-Head said:
Mineta arrives at 9:20. Five minutes later, Cheney is informed that "the plane is 50 miles out.." At 9:36, the plane hits the Pentagon. From the time Mineta enters the PEOC to the time the Pentagon is hit, is about 15 minutes. Since Mineta arrives after Cheney is made aware that a plane is indeed headed towards the Pentagon, or the White house, we can infer that they have been watching the plane for at least 15 minutes.
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As I said, the FAA notified the military of flight 77's heading 13 minutes before it hit the Pentagon at 9:38. Did someone say the plane was headed toward the Pentagon or the White House? How about the Capitol Building? The State Department? CIA HQ in Virginia? The NRO building? None of these buildings were evacuated. Some, like the Pentagon, were designed to be quite safe.
 
Mutton-Head said:
Why was Norman Mineta's testimony not part of 9/11 commission report? His account of the events that occurred in the PEOC completely differ with the official report. He claims Cheney was there 40 minutes before the report does. He claims they were watching flight 77 head for the Pentagon for at least 15 minutes. The report claims they didn't know where 77 was until a minute or two before it crashed.
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I can adress some of this...

Firstly, I'm not surprised at all that people have conflicting accounts of what happened and what time they were where. Such is the way of things.

Secondly, AA77... and the "50 miles out, 30 miles out, does the order still stand?" Fiasco...

A few facts (according to the official story)

1) The "standing order" for immediate threats was for fighters to intercept and shoot down the said threat. Confirmation was only required for non-immediate threats. It is therefore logical to assume the "does the order still stand?" question was a staff member asking if the standing order should be applied to a civilian aircraft full of American citizens. No doubt this staff member was relaying the question from others - most likely the pilots themselves. Given that targetting civilians is a war crime, I can understand why the pilots kept asking...

2) According to official reports AA77 was first located at 0932 by Dulles terminal. An Air National Guard C-130 began trailing the aircraft at this point. Until this point the FAA had assumed AA77 had crashed, and had requested military assistance in a search and rescue operation.

2) AA77 hit the pentagon at 0938 - six minutes after being identified.

3) At typical cruising speed (mach 0.8 or 950 km/h) a Boeing 757 would cover about 60 miles in this six minute period.

4) This collaborates with the reports that only count down from 50 miles out.

Lastly, Mineta himself has repeatedly admitted most of his opinions are based purely on speculation. He didn't know what order was being referred to. He didn't know which aircraft was being referred to. He made assumptions about all this.

Mineta responds to a condescending greeting by Commissioner Roemer by giving a timeline for when he arrived in the PEOC (9:20), and an estimate of when the conversation between the young man and the vice president occurred (9:25-26). Roemer paints a picture of chaos and conflicting decision making between the functioning of the Situation Room and the PEOC and proposes a confused scenario of how a shoot down order might have transpired, to which Mineta replies:

Mineta: "That would be speculation on my part as to what was happening on that day."
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Mineta claims that the conversation took place between 0925-26 hrs, and that this conversation began with "the plane is 50 miles out".

I would like Mineta's explanation for how an aircraft travelling at nearly 10 miles a minute can be a mere 50 miles from its target a full 12 minutes before impact. Especially given Mineta's account in other interviews:

Inside, Mineta was briefed on the situation and escorted down to the presidential emergency operations center, also known as PEOC, a command bunker beneath the White House. There, with Vice President Dick Cheney, they established direct contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and attempted to assess the situation. In minutes, a report came in about a plane 50 miles away, headed low and fast along the river toward Washington, D.C.
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One might surmise from this that the aircraft was travelling FASTER than cruising speed, which would put it even FURTHER than 60 miles out at the moment an Air National Guard C-130 began tracking it (which was at 0932hrs).

The most logical explanation for all this is both Cheney and Mineta got their times completely wrong. Mineta did not arrive at 0900, he arrived "minutes" before 0932. And Cheney did not arrive at 0940. He arrived some time before Mineta.

For reference, if Mineta's first timeline is correct, the 757 averaged about 250 mph for the final 50 miles of approach. 250mph is absolute minimum speed for a 757 without deploying full flaps as on approach. Pretty impressive for the hijacker to maintain a 757 at dead on stall speed for a full 12 minutes... yet kind of odd if he wanted to slam into the Pentagon for maximum damage.

-Andrew

ETA: "C-130"
 
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You're very nice to these people, gumboot. I'm trying to get them to do their homework. :)
 
I understand your time analysis Gumboot. You're right, the times given by Mineta are an approximation. But my question still stands as to why the whole Mineta testimony is ignored in the official report. Because the official report claims that Cheney arrived at PEOC at 9:58, twenty minutes after 77 hit the Pentagon. According to the official report, The conversation that Mineta described couldn't have even taken place.
 
Mutton-Head said:
I understand your time analysis Gumboot. You're right, the times given by Mineta are an approximation. But my question still stands as to why the whole Mineta testimony is ignored in the official report. Because the official report claims that Cheney arrived at PEOC at 9:58, twenty minutes after 77 hit the Pentagon. According to the official report, The conversation that Mineta described couldn't have even taken place.
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And what's your best guess about that discrepancy?
 
Mutton-Head said:
Mineta arrives at 9:20. Five minutes later, Cheney is informed that "the plane is 50 miles out.." At 9:36, the plane hits the Pentagon. From the time Mineta enters the PEOC to the time the Pentagon is hit, is about 15 minutes. Since Mineta arrives after Cheney is made aware that a plane is indeed headed towards the Pentagon, or the White house, we can infer that they have been watching the plane for at least 15 minutes.
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I understand that the plane was traveling at something above 450kts when it hit the Pentagon.

Lets say that the plane was traveling at 400mph (which is something less than 400kts). That would mean that when the plane was 50 miles out it was approximately 7.5 minutes from impact, not 15 minutes as you suggest.

In order for your scenerio to be the case the plane would have to have been traveling no faster than 200mph, a suggestion I have never seen.

Am I missing something?

ETA - Boy am I behind the times....
 
I understand your time analysis Gumboot. You're right, the times given by Mineta are an approximation. But my question still stands as to why the whole Mineta testimony is ignored in the official report. Because the official report claims that Cheney arrived at PEOC at 9:58, twenty minutes after 77 hit the Pentagon. According to the official report, The conversation that Mineta described couldn't have even taken place.
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The report says that "the Vice President entered the underground tunnel leading to the shelter at 9:37. Once inside, Vice President Cheney and the agents paused in an area of the tunnel that had a secure phone, a bench, and television." The report later states that Cheney arrived in the shelter conference room at 9:58. It seems likely, therefore, that Cheney was getting his updates on the status of the plane while he was in the tunnel and that that was the location that Mineta was referring to.
 
gumboot said:
1) The "standing order" for immediate threats was for fighters to intercept and shoot down the said threat. Confirmation was only required for non-immediate threats.
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Where do you get this information? Intercept and shoot-down are two different things. Intercept means simply to fly your fighter next to the plane in question and make contact.
 
There is a big difference between ignoring his testimony and deciding to leave it out since it didnt fit with other witnesses testimony about the time line.

ie if 25 people give testimony that agree with how the events of that day occurred and only one persons testimony is different then its most likely that the one person is in error.
 
Mutton-Head said:
I'm concerned about the fact that what Mineta testified to was ignored.
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Do you mean the timing of the events he recalled, or the events themselves?

Meanwhile, in the Pentagon...

Inside the NMCC, the deputy director for operations called for an all-purpose "significant event" conference. It began at 9:29, with a brief recap: two aircraft had struck the World Trade Center, there was a confirmed hijacking of American 11, and Otis fighters had been scrambled. The FAA was asked to provide an update, but teh line was silent because the FAA had not been added to the call. A minute later, the deputy director stated that it had just been confirmed that American 11 was still airborne and heading toward D.C. He directed the transition to an air threat conference call. NORAD confirmed that American 11 was airborne and heading toward Washington, relaying the erroneous FAA information already mentioned. The call then ended, at about 9:34.

It resumed at 9:37 as and air threat conference call, which lasted more than eight hours.

9/11 Commission Report, page 37
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