Vanity Fair: 9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes

[LiviaOlivia]

9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes
How did the U.S. Air Force respond on 9/11? Could it have shot down United 93, as conspiracy theorists claim? Obtaining 30 hours of never-before-released tapes from the control room of NORAD's Northeast headquarters, the author reconstructs the chaotic military history of that day—and the Pentagon's apparent attempt to cover it up. VF.com exclusive: Hear excerpts from the September 11 NORAD tapes. Click PLAY after each transcript to listen
By MICHAEL BRONNER

~snip~

The story of what happened in that room, and when, has never been fully told, but is arguably more important in terms of understanding America's military capabilities that day than anything happening simultaneously on Air Force One or in the Pentagon, the White House, or NORAD's impregnable headquarters, deep within Cheyenne Mountain, in Colorado. It's a story that was intentionally obscured, some members of the 9/11 commission believe, by military higher-ups and members of the Bush administration who spoke to the press, and later the commission itself, in order to downplay the extent of the confusion and miscommunication flying through the ranks of the government.

The truth, however, is all on tape.

Through the heat of the attack the wheels of what were, perhaps, some of the more modern pieces of equipment in the room—four Dictaphone multi-channel reel-to-reel tape recorders mounted on a rack in a corner of the operations floor—spun impassively, recording every radio channel, with time stamps.

The recordings are fascinating and chilling. A mix of staccato bursts of military code; urgent, overlapping voices; the tense crackle of radio traffic from fighter pilots in the air; commanders' orders piercing through a mounting din; and candid moments of emotion as the breadth of the attacks becomes clearer.

~snip~

http://www.vanityfair.com/features/general/060801fege01

[Kagemusha]

1. What I'd like to know is, who told Osama about the exercise?

I mean, I'm no conspiracy guy who thinks the US intentionally made this happen to itself. (50k people could've died! We're lucky it was only 3k.) But was this just an amazing, never to be repeated coincidence ,or did Al Qaeda know exactly when to hit and how? Granted, I don't expect an answer. It's um, sensitive stuff. But that's the question I've always had about this.

[TrogL]

2. There's a lively LBN thread about this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2430045