PART 7: THE BIG BAMBOOZLE: 911 & THE 'WAR' ON TERROR

THE BIG BAMBOOZLE
911 & THE 'WAR' ON TERROR
BY PHILIP MARSHALL

32

United 175
 

The actual performance of United 175 demonstrates just how incredibly tight the attack plan needed to be in order to defeat our fighter coverage. As expected, F-15's were scrambled within five minutes of the first flight being declared as a hijack and by 8:50, the F-15's were already wheels up and screaming toward Manhattan, eight minutes away. This is the same moment that the cockpit door opened on United 175. 

At this point, any delays would give the fighters a chance to intercept. 

As we can see from the FAA radar recording of UA175: The plane, the crew and the unsuspecting passengers were about to transition from a normal cruise at 31,000 feet to inside the south tower in less than five minutes. This seems impossible. But as the recording indicates, from the time Marwan al-Shehhi took the flight controls at 31,000, he was able to determine the position of the aircraft, disconnect the autopilot, close the throttles, pop the spoilers and initiate a free-fall, right at the Statue of Liberty. This maneuver is known in pilot training as “high dive” or a Rapid D—a rapid descent to quickly get the plane to a lower altitude in the case of depressurization, a loss of cabin pressure at high altitudes. The trick is breaking this descent (which can take 5,000 feet) before mother earth stops you with a twenty foot crater. 

After keeping control of the aircraft through the “high dive” and a level off at a thousand feet, alShehhi, with the smoking north tower and his target, the south tower in the windshield, pushed the throttles forward and accelerated a hundred knots above the red line to 520 miles an hour. This incredible speed would cause maximum damage to the tower with this 300,000 pound missile and 40 tons of jet fuel. The risk at flying this fast was that he could easily miss the tower and if he were to miss, those F-15's would soon be there (in theory) to begin interfering. In the last second, it took a 20- degree left bank for a successful hit at the perfect height, delivering a fatal blow to the 101-story building. For supposedly his first flight in a heavy wide-body jet, this is an unbelievable flying feat – literally. 

Surely, the Saudi planners had made certain that the hijackers could indeed meet the skill requirements of this flight profile and surely, this performance reveals repeated, real-time, hands on aircraft training. This was not, could not have have been his very first flight, the very first five minutes at the controls of a heavy jetliner. 

“Mate!” 

“Yes, mate! Give yourself a pat …” 

The president snapped back to the class, “Yeah!” He clapped his hands and took a search around to the camera filming him from the rear of the classroom. His eyes darted around to the students in the front row. He smiled with mouth only. 

The teacher was all business. “Let’s read these words on this page without making mistakes … Everybody tell me what this part of these words say …” 

For the first time, the president turns his head and pulls back to actually focus on the words next to him. He is now present. The words on the poster were listed top to bottom. 

“Rob!” sang the students. 

“Yes, rob … now tell me what the whole word says. Get ready …” 

“Robber!” 

The president quickly looked away and back down to his comfort place on the floor, nostrils in a full flare while the teacher points to the next word with her left hand. “Everybody tell me what this part of the word says …” 

“Run!” 

“Yes, run … Now tell me what the whole word says …” 

“Running!” 

“Yes, running … Get ready to read these words the fast way …” The emphasis was on the word ‘fast’. “Get ready …” 

“Robber!” 

“Yes, robber … Get ready …” 

“Running!” 

“Yes, running … Good job!” She pointed lower. “Boys and girls … read these the fast way …” Again she emphasized the word ‘fast’. “Get ready …” 

“Smile!” 

The president was not smiling as he stared toward the spot, but something prompted him to break out another lip-only smile. “Yes, smile … Sound it out … Get ready …” 

“Smiling!” The children held their perfect posture and their perfect responses for the rest of the page while the president sat quietly with an occasional smile, an occasional nod. 

What else could he do?

33

The Absolute Monarchy 

By the time George H. Bush became president in 1989, Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan had become Bush and Baker’s main link into a world of oil kingdoms. This relationship has evolved in the past two decades into hand-holding and immense wealth. The Prince has spent time with the President’s family at their Texas ranch, their Kennebunkport home, at Camp David and of course, the White House. He has had visits to the Pentagon and has been flown on Air Force One. [1] 

In turn, there have been reciprocal trips to The Kingdom, a land rich with oil since 1938, oil that transformed one of the poorest of desert kingdoms into an ocean of black gold. All this gold is controlled by the Arab Islamic Monarchy, an absolute monarchy with no constitution other than the Quran. Consequently, Saudi Arabia is a welfare state where an average of $25,000 annually is distributed to each family. [2] 

So the Bush First Family have claimed Bandar as a legitimate family member. Although the Saudis are an absolute monarchy, open adversaries to democracy, have no constitution, conduct public beheadings, and are blatantly oppressive to women, Bandar has been unofficially adopted into the family of George and Barbara Bush. [3] 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a land where the King and his family are considered the most perfect and supreme subjects on all the Earth. [4] The King stands above all human laws and has no judge above him either in spiritual or temporal matters. He answers only to Allah, and the Kingdom’s motto is that “There is no God but Allah.” 

What a great idea! 

Bandar has held many titles for the Saudi royal family, including ambassador to the United States. He has homes in Aspen, Washington, London and Switzerland. He jets the world in his personal four-engine Airbus 340, capable of flying nonstop from anywhere to anywhere. He is a self described playboy and family man! George H.W. Bush celebrated his 80th birthday on Bandar’s A340. In The Prince, the world’s largest arms dealer is described as having been devastated when the elder Bush lost the White House to Bill Clinton in 1992. 

Bandar is the son of Prince Sultan Aziz. Prince Sultan fathered 58 children and Bandar had little contact with him growing up. His mother was a concubine to Sultan. 

Bandar’s early credibility revolved around his flying career as a fighter pilot, although it ended with a gear-up landing and a damaged back. In The Prince, the flying stories are comical: Reading through the obvious bull corn of bravado, it appears that Bandar might have been the worst fighter pilot in aviation history. 

The initial indication of moving vehicle incompetence was that he wrecked his first automobile while in initial flight training in Great Britain. He “inadvertently” turned off the ignition, which locked the steering wheel just when he needed it for an upcoming curve. The car zoomed through a ditch and landed inverted. His female companion was belted in until Bandar released her seat belt, which resulted in an injury worse than what she had sustained in the actual crash. 

As chronicled in The Prince, the fighter pilot was later transferred to the United States for further training and his association with the royal family was soon exploited. Bandar would burn through petro dollars at an unfathomable rate and his Air Force trainers were initially alarmed. His colonel, Joe Ramsey, was getting agitated phone calls from the local bank about Bandar writing checks beyond the reach of his $10,000 balance but Bandar would make a call to the kingdom and there would be an immediate boost to his account. Soon, Colonel Joe Ramsey would become a close personal friend of Prince Bandar. 

It wouldn’t take long before the older scouts discovered the walking gold mine. Every time it appeared the prince’s salad days were over, out came a checkbook and doors swung open. He was soon awarded Top Gun for his unit. Of course, his unit was not the U.S.A.F; it was the R.S.A.F (Royal Saudi Air Force) in which he was awarded Top Gun. By U.S. standards he would have surely washed out, but he received the honor that led to the miraculous opening of a thousand doors. He was Top Gun! He was a Saudi Arabian prince! Step this way, our new friend! 

In 1970, someone had signed Bandar off on the supersonic F-5 interceptor, a handful of a fighter jet. He was soon a flying menace. At the 1971 air show for King Faisal and his guest, King Hussein of Jordan, our Prince was flying the F-5 in the opposite direction of the diamond formation that would cross over the amphitheater that had been set up for the display. Bandar was to cross beneath the formation, but when the formation flew over the tents and the giant sunshade in the desert at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Bandar was missing. 

In aviation terms, he was a day late, but that didn’t stop the show like his next maneuver. Because of his tardiness, Bandar had lit the afterburners and proceeded to lose altitude while gaining a ton of air speed. When he passed over the two kings, at an incredible speed, he took down the entire setup in a hurricane of havoc. Fancy rugs, flowers, chairs, napkins and even the head wear ghoutras were blown off the kings in a vortex of heavy jet fuel and afterburner hell. That was a show stopper. 

His father, Prince Sultan, the defense minister, was in the crowd. He walked up to Bandar and finally had a nice one-on-one chat with his boy: 

“You’re court martialed.” 

The American working the control tower was quoted as saying, “Sweet Jesus – that was spectacular!” 

It was not long before our Prince was making great headway in American politics. With his reputation as a Top Gun fighter pilot, he was led into the arms race as the Saudi expert in aviation matters. His first major arms deal involved the Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, deal between the United States (defense contractors) and the Saudi government. Bush and Baker led Bandar to Boeing and other contractors. Fear was induced of a theoretical Soviet attack on the oil fields and more theoretical fear of the Israelis and their American-made fighters. 

In all, six Boeing 707s were modified with radar tracking equipment and the planes would fly a perpetual racetrack pattern over the kingdom while a 1980 computer system communicated with the ground equipment. This would give Saudi Arabia perhaps five minutes of warning in the event of an aerial attack. AWACS was an arms salesman’s dream, a toothless tiger, a security guard armed with mace. 

In 1981 dollars, considering that a commercial Boeing 707 sold for around $25 million, six would be around $150 million. To be fair, the extra-large radar antennas on the top of the fuselages would double the price to $300 million. Let’s not forget the computer system at, let’s say, an even billion, for a total deal of close to $1.3 billion. But with Top Gun in the mix, the deal was announced at $85 billion! The extra $83.5 billion no doubt going largely to the aircraft brokers. Soon after, the Vice President proclaimed that Bandar was now an official member of the Bush family. His new name in Kennebunkport was announced as Bandar Bush. An extra place would be set at Thanksgiving and Barbara would make an exception to the no-smoking rule as the new Bush fired up Cubans in the living room. The Bushes loved Bandar with all their hearts. It is a love story like no other. 

That $83.5 billion in 1981 would have been enough to buy 3,340 Boeing 707's – a fleet greater than today’s United, American, Delta and Southwest airlines combined. Saudi Arabia had bought six planes and a new family from Connecticut/Texas. The price wasn’t cheap, but Bandar’s new family would have to hold his hand in public. 

Then Iran-Contra proved to be another opportunity for Bandar and the Saudi kingdom to swing open more doors. As Reagan made speeches denouncing drugs and arms smuggling, Bush and Ollie’s gang sent arms to terrorists (Freedom Fighters) with illegal funds from Bandar, washed and dried in the Caymans. Bandar also would be the middleman in arms shipments to what Reagan had labeled the “terrorist state” of Iran. 

This new power had a motto: Acta non verba. Actions, not words. Or, more precisely, do anything, speak the opposite and use the greatest perk of the Executive Branch: Tell the news media that the information came from U.S. Intelligence officials**. It works every time. 

Reagan was wrong. Not only did the criminals not get tacked to the wall by their thumbs, one was elected President of the United States.

34

AWOL Again? 

At 9:04 a.m. on 9/11, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card approached the president from stage right and whispered into the Commander-in-Chief’s ear, “A second plane has hit the World Trade Center. America is under attack.” Until this point, a very weak argument could have been made for not jumping into action to get the Commander-in-Chief up to speed on the hundreds of communications that were flying around the military command in the heat of the battle. We now know that General Arnold had been told that the president was busy at the moment, occupado, he’ll get back to you after the second-graders’ story is finished. [1] But at this moment, the Commander-in-Chief of all American Armed Forces was, without any doubt, aware that his nation was under a vicious air attack. 

The raiders were surely on edge. This was a bold and risky attack, perhaps the greatest in world history. Surely, all within the esoteric circle watched, and waited, as the moment of truth had finally arrived. Hearts were about to explode. Three more planes were out there. How was it going? Those damn intangibles were impossible to predict as they watched the second 767 appear on live television. There’s number two! Two down and where are three and four? Hopefully on the screen within the next 60 seconds! [They let it happen DC]

Trillions of dollars have been spent building the U.S. military defense. As every military commander knows, from the Marine sergeant to the Army colonel, to a thousand Naval commanding officers on constant alert around the world, to the NORAD Command Center, a quick response is the heart of American defense, but lethal force cannot be initiated without action from the president. 

America was in dire need of a strong and capable Commander-in-Chief to launch a wave of fighter jets and make damn sure that those fighters had shoot-down authority. 

The American President had life-saving decisions in front of him. His reaction followed a pattern consistent with his reaction to the dozen warnings of an imminent attack over the previous months. Instead of passing the “off the charts” warnings about an impending attack using airliners to the Transportation Secretary or the FAA chief or to airline pilots, he cleared brush on his Texas ranch and went fishing. 

When he was slipped into the Texas Air National Guard in 1971 and was trained (with taxpayer funds) to fly a fighter jet, he went missing and thumbed his nose at the system. Unbelievably, this man became Commander-in-Chief of America’s armed forces. But now was his chance to shine. Would he go absent again? [4] 

As Andy Card whispered, the President’s reaction was consistent with a commander receiving an update on the attack and not an initial attack report. There is no denying that after his Chief of Staff whispered to him, there was no doubt, none, that a massacre was in progress; that two airliners had penetrated all of our defenses and were burning furiously inside the nation’s tallest two buildings, full of American taxpayers. 

America is under attack! 

Hello? 

The Commander in Chief of all U.S. Armed Forces just sat there, and supposedly, he had no idea if these were the first of two more, four more, fifty more. Supposedly, he had no idea who was attacking us or if this could go nuclear. It was a big mystery! But still, he just sat there with no inclination to take command of the billions of taxpayer funds that bought domestic, quick response defense measures. All lines of communications were available but they led to nowhere and no one. 

The Commander in Chief’s face paled and flushed. He nodded and his posture stiffened again as he darted his eyes toward his senior advisers standing against the wall. 

The second-grade teacher had taken one of the two identical copies of a book from the table between her and her visitor. She opened her book and glanced to the stiff man who was clearly not keeping the second-grade pace. She waited for him to pick up his copy, but the silence was too uncomfortable. 

“Thank you,” she said, “Let’s take a look at the title of this story …” Again she quizzically glanced over and he finally snapped to attention and reached for his copy on the table. 

“Get ready …” 

The President fumbled to open the book.

35

Fascinating Reading 

It was hard to hear the students over the constant camera snaps, but they had indeed learned to read. “The pet goat …” the students sang in perfect unison. Meanwhile, back at the farm, Hani Hanjour had navigated 300 miles directly to the heart of America’s military headquarters. When we checked the radar recordings, the Boeing 757 was depicted on at least fifteen different ATC screens. [1] 

“Get ready to read the title the fast way …” The emphasis was on ‘fast.’ 

“The Pet Goat.” The teacher had taken a pencil and tapped in a rhythm between words, making the sound of the … tap … pet … tap… goat. 

“Yes! ‘The Pet Goat’ … Get ready … fingers under the first word of the story …” Bush appeared to be drifting in and out of deep thought and his eyes were darker and he was clearly uncomfortable. But he just stared at the pages while the towers burned and N.Y.F.D was humping up to the inferno on a stairway to hell with 50 pounds of equipment on their back. 

As it turned out, the raid was not even halfway over and the only person that could actually stop them; the one person who held the keys to the missiles under the wings of those fighter jets, just sat there, cutting his eyes. 

“Get ready to read the story the fast way …”

 “The girl had a pet goat … ” 

“Go on …” 

“She liked to … ” As the reading went on, the cameras whirred with constant shooting, “her pet goat …” 

“Go on. … ” commanded the teacher. The president had his book open but cut his eyes around the room. “Ready … ” 

“She played with her pet goat in her yard… ” 

“Go on…” 

“But the goat did something that made …” Something was seriously wrong. Half the class seemed to lose focus, the last part of the sentence was all smeared with indecision. The teacher jumped into action. 

“Let’s clean that up!” 

She would tap harder between words. The Commander in Chief bobbed his head to the rhythm of her pencil and… smiled. 

“But tap the goat tap did tap something tap that tap made tap the tap girl tap mad …” Bush just loved the beat. 

More reports began to surface about missing jetliners. The F-15's were flying toward Manhattan, but they still had no authority to intercept or shoot. 

On American 77, Hanjour was late, a full thirty minutes behind the plan. One might assume, as the towers burned on televisions across the country and as passengers on AA77 made frantic calls to relatives, that the Commander-in-Chief would be on top of the United States military response, issuing weapons-free authority to every available fighter jet on the East Coast. The Defense Department would face tough decisions and needed the Great Decider to stop an even larger massacre. Would they, could they fire a missile at a passenger airliner heading straight for the capital? What if they have a dozen more heading toward other targets around the nation, around the world? Who’s going to make these decisions? Surely, by 9:20 a.m., a hostile aircraft headed straight for the capital of the United States had no chance to penetrate much further without at least one fighter jet on his wing. 

Finally, the wonderful story of the pet goat had finished; perhaps now we could find time to start communicating with the events around New York. But first, the Commander-in-Chief apparently felt the need to extend his time in the classroom and to make conversation. 

“Whew! That was great reading!” He remained seated and smiled to the children. “Very impressive.” He continued to scan the room. “Thank you all so much for showing me your reading skills … You practiced this, right?” 

“Oh yes,” said the teacher. 

He remained seated. “Reading more than they watch TV?” 

“That’s right; they read more than they watch TV.” 

“Oh, that’s good … ” He closed his copy of the book. “Thank you for having me … Very impressive … ” While the president remained seated, the video ended. Tick, tick, tick. 

The raiders were certainly getting nervous; 9:11 a.m. on 9/11 had come and gone. Two planes were not on plan. This was not good. What in the hell happened to 93? He had pushed off the gate right on schedule, but where the hell was he and where the hell was 77? As we will see, they may have not been in the dark. But for now, let’s stick with solid evidence. 

Two airplanes were still missing and unaccounted for, yet even with that knowledge, no shoot down authority had been ordered and no more military fighters had been scrambled. 

During the incredible commemoration that led up to the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the News Corporation led a media blitz by broadcasting, “The World Remembers 9/11.” In a documentary of the President’s day, we were shown an incredible still photo of Bush attempting to look busy while total bedlam was swirling through Washington and New York. The photo shows our Commander-in Chief sitting at a table writing out a script for his statement on a yellow tablet. Sentences were written and then scratched out as American 77 shot straight for Washington. The good news was that F-16's were just one minute from protecting the Pentagon and the capital from a giant missile. The bad news was that fighter pilots waiting on the Tarmac for orders to launch and engage, never got those orders. 

After disappearing within another classroom with Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer and his traveling staff for 15 minutes, the President emerged to deliver a written statement at a podium that was set in front of the children. It was the inaugural speech of the Post-9/11 World: 

“Ladies and gentlemen. This is a difficult moment for America.” The children stood behind the president and a few were smiling, unaware of what was going down. “I’m, unfortunately, will be going back to Washington after I deliver my remarks … The Secretary of Education Ron Paige and the lieutenant governor will then take the podium to discuss education … I do want to thank the folks at Booker Elementary for the hospitality …” 

The raiders had to be in a panic. Where in the hell were 93 and 77? What the hell had gone wrong?

36

The Hero 

Because of terror and terrorism, America has quietly surrendered our democracy to the Intelligence Community**. As we’ve seen, when one equal branch of government (Congress) attempted to serve a congressional subpoena on a suspect who had two 9/11 hijackers living in his home and had frequent meetings with the main organizers of the attacks, our new branch simply refused to serve the subpoena. Who’s going to make them? 

One super-terrorist, Osama Bin Laden proved that we need to build our Intelligence Community** so that another 9/11 will never happen again. Since 9/11, the Intelligence Community is able to tap directly into the United States Treasury to keep us all safe. But wait a minute! 

When we take a closer look, there was nothing wrong with our system. 

The FBI field agents found the hijackers and their support team. Five separate times. The Intelligence Community** had two of the hijackers living in the house of what they described as one of their most trusted assets. The FAA was called at least eight times. [1] There were at least twenty three reports delivered straight to the president that an attack was imminent; that the system was “blinking red,” that strange activity and chatter was “off the charts.” Airlines had been reported, time and time again, as the most likely targets. There were calls from intelligence agencies all over the world that something big was going down. 

As a captain with an airline that was victimized, it would have been beneficial to have some sort of heads up, some notice of the sort that are issued to us through several routine avenues. An alert through the FAA or the company would not have affected one single flight. I received nothing. Vic Saracini didn’t receive any, nor did Jason Dahl, Leroy Homer, or any of the American pilots. We were left unprotected. One intelligence official who testified before Congress looked over to a victim’s family and said, “Your government let you down.” 

No shit. 

The system was “blinking red.” It worked just fine; it was the heads of the system that failed. These failures then proclaimed, during the next election season, in 2004, that if the opposition were to be elected we would really be screwed, we could expect more terror. They then proclaimed that since 9/11 there has been no more terror attacks on the United States because they saved us from Osama bin Laden. Thanks again fellas but let’s look at it this way: In the 225 years of our union, there had only been two terrorist attacks on the United States and they both happened on the watch of a Bush White House. You’re welcome, America. [1- The first W.T.C truck bombing was a month after Bush 41 left office] 

9/11 didn’t happen because we weren’t prepared, it happened because our leaders stopped leading. No one is so stupid that when your house is on fire you “forget” to call the fire department, or that when your country’s under a fierce aerial attack you just sit there, passing time while your supersonic fighters sit on the ground for two hours. 

On 9/11, two planes encountered delays that subjected them to fighter jet intercept. Lucky for them that our top “commander” just sat still. While American 77 flew a beeline for the nation’s capital for thirty eight minutes, George W. Bush, Fox News’ hero, was scratching out a script to read as if he were the press secretary. How can you write what’s happening if you don’t know what’s happening? Incredibly, they ran their reelection campaign on competence to stop terror. 

And the majority of voters bought it, due, in part, to a mysterious video of “Osama bin Laden” that was broadcast around the world three days before the election. By the time experts had determined the video was a fake, the votes had already been counted. [2]

Next
The Stall

notes
Chapter 32 
Classroom video at thebigbamboozle.com
Chapter 33 
Note 1-3: This chapter is backed by numerous accounts within The Prince. As covered earlier, The Prince is a work of gray propaganda, a chronicle of shady deals but nothing that would convict the prince of any wrongdoing. A cross exam under oath would be different. The parts on 9/11 raise many questions but the author never crosses a line of complicity. Note that this book was published by an “imprint of Harper-Collins Publishers”, a News Corporation (Fox News) production. 
Chapter 34 
Notes 1-3 (not denoted): tactical plan chronology provided by 9/11 Commission, black box recordings and FAA radar recordings. 
Note 4: crosscheck several sources www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/03/politics/main615317.shtml The Prince (Chapter 3) 
Chapter 35 
Note 1: Classroom video thebigbamboozle.com crosschecked with black box recordings on AA77 and UA 93 
Chapter 36 
Note 1: Congressional Joint Inquiry report summary 
Note 2: Classroom video, ATC transcripts and Congressional Joint Inquiry report, The Commission. See NBC Nightly News September 7, 2007 thebigbamboozle.com