Gates Criticizes Air Force in Iraq

In Iraq?


Where the Fuck was the US airfarce on September 11, 2001?

Out to Lunch, Busy elsewhere, for hours 4 jetliners in the busiest airspace in AMERICA and the airfarce can't find them.


PS not so much as a slap on the wrist for any involved.

How odd. I always thought the JCS and uniformed services worked for SecDef. If Gates is criticizing the USAF for non-support and dogmatic leadership, perhaps he could identify the real problem by looking in a mirror.

ZAP - On 9/11 the Air Force was doing their usual job. Maybe you've seen too many war movies. The AF did not have armed fighters just sitting around in the CONUS (Continental United States) awaiting to be launched on a moments notice. This type attack had never happened here and no one could have armed, manned and launched to do anything about it as no one was aware what was happening, exception was notice via cellphone of the on which subsequently went down in PA.

The AF did not have armed fighters just sitting around in the CONUS (Continental United States) awaiting to be launched on a moments notice

Really?!?

Then they are not doing their job of defending America now are they?

Do you think that an enemy is going to give them a few hours notice of an attack so as to arm up and get ready?

Please.

The Russians used to, and I beleive have began again, test our response time to incursions into our airspace with their bombers. Now just how good is it to send up unarmed planes to intercept them?

"This type attack had never happened here"

Pearl Harbor happened. There really was no excuse for the lack of preparation if that is even really the truth.

Pearl Harbor was ALLOWED to happen to obtain the support of the American people to enter into WW2. Without Pearl Harbor we would not have entered into it.

Larry Mohr

one could say that about 9/11 and Iraq

And without sounding too conspiracy minded here, 9/11 could have been allowed to happen in order to gain public support for the invasion of Iraq, which had been in the works since early in 2001 with Cheney's secret energy meetings.

Now I am not saying that the white house planned on all the civilian deaths, but they clearly did not do enough in the build up to 9/11 with the information they had.

And while they had no precise intel of what was going to happen, they had enough for Ashcroft to stop flying commercial airlines in summer 2001.

The warnings were there. The white house new about them. The white house was in my mind banking on an attack to froth up the war chants from the public.

There are too many unanswered questions. Why was Cheney's energy meeting secret? Why wouldn't Bush testify alone or under oath to the 9/11 commission? Why did they ignore the PDB on using aircraft as missiles? Why did Ashcroft stop flying commercial airlines? Why wouldn't Cheney testify under oath and alone? Why was Bush so quick to seek a link to Iraq?

It all adds up in one direction.

Really?!?

Posted by 726 at 2008-04-22 08:08 AM | Reply

Yes, Really.

You haven't seen too many war movies. You've seen too many Westerns.

The active duty military cannot operate within CONUS except under sudden and extreme circumstances. The 319th Bomber Wing will not charge over the hill to save you.

The failures of 9/11 were not the military's fault but of the intelligence services, include CIA, NSA and FBI. If only they were allowed to share information, it may not have happened.

Pearl Harbor was ALLOWED to happen to .....

Posted by LarryMohr at 2008-04-22 08:13 AM | Reply

Larry is just the other ID for BuffBob

726,


The warnings were there.


The warnings had been fairly evident for quite a long time. WTC '93 should have been the real wake-up call.

Fact is, the CIA has been historically woefully inadequate at providing quality intel.

The Bush administration had zero actionable intel in regards to 9-11.

The US-backed coups in Cenntral and South America during the last 50 years are far more fitting of your conspiratorial suggestions.

I just "Love" how Vernon spews His bullshit like it's going out of style. AMAZING.

Larry Mohr

Let's not forget Gates' longstanding rep for political hackery. There could be more to his tirade than meets the eye. Anyone care to speculate on his "agenda"?

"And while they had no precise intel of what was going to happen, they had enough for Ashcroft to stop flying commercial airlines in summer 2001."
--726

So we should shut down entire industries everytime there's a little terror chatter?

And while they had no precise intel of what was going to happen, they had enough for Ashcroft to stop flying commercial airlines in summer 2001.


Posted by 726 at 2008-04-22 08:26 AM | Reply | Fl

Holy shit! This guy is a fucking retard. No wonder he changed handles previously.

"The US-backed coups in Cenntral and South America during the last 50 years are far more fitting of your conspiratorial suggestions."

So, you think that their illegal activities were limited to just one continent???

Holy shit! This guy is a fucking retard. No wonder he changed handles previously.

Posted by 101Chairborne


Is it unreasonable to assume that the government, hearing chatter of an upcoming attack would ask government officials to use private transport instead of commercial airlines? I don't think it's a sign Bush knew of an impending attack; it might have just been a precaution.

That being said, maybe Bush knew of an impending attack, but the government and intelligence agencies just didn't know the scope of the operation. It's atleast conceivable that they thought it would just be a small light plane crashed into a skyscraper and wrote it off as a possible excuse for military action, but when the day came and the hammer dropped, it was worse than they expected.

Wacky, but plausible.

Is it unreasonable to assume that the government, hearing chatter of an upcoming attack would ask government officials to use private transport instead of commercial airlines? I don't think it's a sign Bush knew of an impending attack; it might have just been a precaution.


Posted by ddenton at 2008-04-22 10:37 AM | Reply

That's exactly the way I read it.

I'm surprised that any Atty general flew commercial.

Government officials are citizens just like us, and are just as easily replaceable. All of em should fly commercial and provide for their own security if they feel they need it.

According to the pants pissers they are better than us.

The warnings had been fairly evident for quite a long time. WTC '93 should have been the real wake-up call.



Damn straight they were.

The very mention of them using airplanes as guided missiles in a PDB should have at the very least tightened airport security, put locks on the cockpit doors, etc.

But it is much easier (and cost effective to the airline industry) to bury the dead and pay off the families with government money.

Especially when in the process you get your goal of attacking Iraq.

Off we go -- Into the wild blue yonder;
Flying high -- into the sky!
Behind our desks -- computer console ahead;
Great to have a office job -- and close to one's own home bed!

Nellis Air Force Base -- mother base where nary a threat exists.

From remote consoles -- into the sky
Our drones will fly;

Barely a threat exists to even a hair on our head.
That's the mighty and wary -- US Air Force!

I just "Love" how Vernon spews His bullshit like it's going out of style. AMAZING.

Larry Mohr

Posted by LarryMohr at 2008-04-22 08:39 AM | Reply

Now there's a comment full of thought AND content

who ever is in charge should be fired

Posted by 726 at 2008-04-22 08:26 AM

And without sounding too conspiracy minded here ...

It all adds up in one direction.

Go ahead, be conspiracy minded. Why the disclaimer?

The Bush administration had zero actionable intel in regards to 9-11.

Other than names of two of the terrorists, whom they lost, warnings of events which occurred within days of prediction, yeah they had no idea.

Ashcroft quit flying commercially in July 2001, when the CIA was "blinking red", according to Tenet,due to "unidentified" threats. Pobably just a coincidence.

Vermin,

The CIA provided the White House repeated warnings of an iminent attack from al Qaeda. Berger's only words to Rice were about the national security need to devote time to the al Qaeda problem. The FBI was warned repeatedly about Arab's that wanted to learn to fly commerical aircraft without learning to land them. More significantly, NORAD and the Air Force have multi trillion dollar systems in place to protect against attacks whether the attackers enter US airspace or not.

Why do you choose the word "allowed" when the root cause of the bureaucratic failure to share information is protecting their turf and covering their own asses?

How long to we wait before we hold Gates responsible for the fucking mess Rummy left him? Ultimate repsonsibility lies with our moron President, even though Cheney engineered the whole fucking fiasco.

In fairness, it only took the AF a few minutes to make sure AF-1 was well protected as it fled to Cornhole Nebraska.
At one time, there were air defense systems or Stingers on or around the WH. Anybody have a link as to when they were removed?

this makes the commander in chief look clueless

Where the Fuck was the US airfarce on September 11, 2001?

Posted by Zap

If they would have shot down one comercial aircraft you would have screamed the loudest.

Lets see it starts with this:

On 9/11 the Air Force was doing their usual job.

Aside from a snicker the airfarce's job apparently does not include defending the CONUS.

Interesting, Please explain?

If they would have shot down one comercial aircraft you would have screamed the loudest.
~SNIPER


Yes indeed with the quick wit of Snippy commercial aviation is safe.

In fairness, it only took the AF a few minutes to make sure AF-1 was well protected as it fled to Cornhole Nebraska.

Yea the fighter escort for AF-1 is fully prepared to report where it crashes if attacked. Of course it lever will be because it's never happened.

Jeff and Vernon need embossed notification and rain dates for possible attack. Anything less is Not expectable and will not be accepted!

This decision is Final!